Department of Public Health, the University of Texas at Tyler Health Science Center, Tyler, Texas, United States of America.
Institute for Water and Health, Georgia Southern University, Savannah, Georgia, United States of America.
PLoS One. 2024 Sep 19;19(9):e0307281. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0307281. eCollection 2024.
This study sought to identify the psychosocial influences on the practice of well stewardship behaviors (water testing, water treatment, and well maintenance) in rural Georgia, USA. Three interventions (education, the provision of household water treatment systems [HWTS], and both education and HWTS) were evaluated using a four-group, randomized controlled trial. A total of 64 private well owners completed a pretest measuring psychosocial factors and stewardship behaviors before receiving an intervention. Following a 104-day waiting period, participants completed a posttest and interviews were conducted to identify the barriers and facilitators to use (S1 File). Pretest results showed that 34% of well owners have ever tested their water and that only 25% treat their water before consumption. The education-only intervention showed no influence on stewardship behaviors, resulted in no new water tests and had no impact on psychosocial factors. The HWTS-only intervention had no significant effect on testing and treatment behaviors, though it had a significant effect on abilities (R2 = .87, p< 0.05) and self-regulation (R2 = 1.0, p<0.01). The intervention of both education and HWTS had no effect on testing and no significant effect on treatment behaviors, though had a significant effect on abilities (R2 = .84, p<0.05) and self-regulation (R2 = .93, p<0.05). This study identified three barriers to the use of HWTS: beliefs, knowledge, and functionality. Two factors (piece of mind and ease of use) were identified as facilitators to the use of HWTS. The results of this study indicate that providing water treatment systems does not guarantee use and that current educational efforts provided by state and local health departments may be ineffective.
本研究旨在确定美国佐治亚州农村地区良好管理行为（水质检测、水处理和水井维护）实践的社会心理影响因素。采用四组随机对照试验评估了三种干预措施（教育、提供家用水处理系统[HWTS]以及教育和 HWTS）。共有 64 名私人水井所有者在接受干预前完成了一项测量社会心理因素和管理行为的预测试。在 104 天的等待期后，参与者完成了后测，并进行了访谈以确定使用的障碍和促进因素（S1 文件）。预测试结果表明，34%的水井所有者曾经检测过水质，只有 25%的人在饮用前处理过水质。仅接受教育的干预措施对管理行为没有影响，没有新的水质检测，也没有对社会心理因素产生影响。仅提供 HWTS 的干预措施对检测和处理行为没有显著影响，但对能力（R2 =.87，p<0.05）和自我调节（R2 = 1.0，p<0.01）有显著影响。教育和 HWTS 的联合干预措施对检测没有影响，对处理行为也没有显著影响，但对能力（R2 =.84，p<0.05）和自我调节（R2 =.93，p<0.05）有显著影响。本研究确定了使用 HWTS 的三个障碍：信念、知识和功能。两个因素（安心和易用性）被确定为使用 HWTS 的促进因素。本研究结果表明，提供水处理系统并不能保证其使用，州和地方卫生部门目前提供的教育工作可能无效。
