Stephan Nicole, Sinharoy Sheela S, Waford Rachel, Patrick Madeleine, Mink Thea, Bhan Tanushree, Ahmed Tanvir, Ahmed Alauddin, Caruso Bethany A
Hubert Department of Global Health, Rollins School of Public Health, Emory University, Atlanta, GA, United States of America.
Department of Civil Engineering, Bangladesh University of Engineering and Technology, Dhaka, Bangladesh.
Health Place. 2025 Jul 20;95:103515. doi: 10.1016/j.healthplace.2025.103515.
Research indicates that women and girls face gender-specific stressors related to sanitation that affect their mental health, and women's decision-making agency may play a role in this relationship. This study aimed to quantitatively assess the association between women's sanitation-related decision-making - overall, within the household, and within the community - and well-being in two urban municipalities in Bangladesh. This paper is a secondary analysis of cross-sectional survey data collected from 1449 women in Meherpur and Saidpur, Bangladesh from March-April 2022. We measured well-being using the World Health Organization Well-being Index [WHO-5] and primary exposures included women's sanitation-related decision-making and access to an unshared latrine. Decision-making was measured using the Agency, Resources, and Institutional Structures for Sanitation-related Empowerment (ARISE) scale; the full-scale score was utilized in the first analysis and the five individual factor scores were used in the second. Linear regression models were employed to assess the associations between decision-making and well-being scores, controlling for life stage, socioeconomic level, perceived social support and self-reported physical health. Analyses were conducted with city as a fixed effect and also stratified by city. Mean well-being scores were moderate in both cities, with approximately 20 % of respondents reporting poor well-being. On average, women generally agreed that they had a role in sanitation-related decision making (mean score = 2.66 on a 1-4 scale, with higher scores indicating stronger agreement that they had the ability to make sanitation-related decisions). In the full models using the full decision-making scale score, results indicated a positive association between the overall decision-making scale score and well-being (β = 0.73, p = 0.02). In full models using decision-making factor scores, we observed a positive association between well-being and individual decision-making factor scores for the ability to influence community-level sanitation decisions (β = 1.10, p = 0.0002) and to make small household sanitation decisions (β = 1.07, p = 0.006). Conversely, the ability to participate in community-level sanitation decisions was negatively associated with well-being (β = -0.68, p = 0.02). The ability to participate in household sanitation decisions and make large household sanitation decisions were not associated with well-being. Access to an unshared latrine was not associated with well-being in fully adjusted models. The relationships between decision-making factors and well-being varied in analyses stratified by city. Women's involvement in sanitation-related decision-making likely varies based on the extent of their participation, the nature of the decisions, and a range of contextual and household- or individual-level factors (e.g., socioeconomic level, age, education). To effectively improve women's well-being, sanitation programs must be informed by context-specific research exploring sanitation-related decision-making and its mediators among the populations of interest.
研究表明,妇女和女孩面临与卫生设施相关的特定性别压力源,这些压力源会影响她们的心理健康,而妇女的决策能动性可能在这种关系中发挥作用。本研究旨在定量评估孟加拉国两个城市辖区内妇女在卫生设施相关决策方面——总体上、家庭内部以及社区内部——与幸福感之间的关联。本文是对2022年3月至4月从孟加拉国梅赫布尔和赛义德布尔的1449名妇女收集的横断面调查数据进行的二次分析。我们使用世界卫生组织幸福感指数[WHO - 5]来衡量幸福感,主要暴露因素包括妇女在卫生设施相关决策方面的情况以及是否使用独立厕所。决策情况使用卫生设施相关赋权的能动性、资源和机构结构(ARISE)量表进行衡量;在首次分析中使用的是全量表得分,第二次分析中使用的是五个单独的因子得分。采用线性回归模型来评估决策情况与幸福感得分之间的关联,并对生活阶段、社会经济水平、感知到的社会支持和自我报告的身体健康进行控制。分析以城市为固定效应进行,并且也按城市进行分层。两个城市的平均幸福感得分都处于中等水平,约20%的受访者报告幸福感较差。平均而言,妇女普遍认同她们在卫生设施相关决策中发挥了作用(在1 - 4分的量表上平均得分为2.66分,得分越高表明她们越认同自己有能力做出与卫生设施相关的决策)。在使用全决策量表得分构建的完整模型中,结果表明总体决策量表得分与幸福感之间存在正相关(β = 0.73,p = 0.02)。在使用决策因子得分构建的完整模型中,我们观察到幸福感与影响社区层面卫生设施决策的能力(β = 1.10,p = 0.0002)以及做出小型家庭卫生设施决策的能力(β = 1.07,p = 0.006)这两个个体决策因子得分之间存在正相关。相反,参与社区层面卫生设施决策的能力与幸福感呈负相关(β = -0.68,p = 0.02)。参与家庭卫生设施决策的能力以及做出大型家庭卫生设施决策的能力与幸福感无关。在完全调整后的模型中,使用独立厕所与幸福感无关。在按城市分层的分析中,决策因子与幸福感之间的关系有所不同。妇女在卫生设施相关决策方面的参与程度可能因她们的参与范围、决策性质以及一系列背景和家庭或个人层面的因素(如社会经济水平、年龄、教育程度)而有所不同。为了有效提高妇女的幸福感,卫生项目必须依据针对特定背景的研究来制定,该研究要探索目标人群中与卫生设施相关的决策及其调节因素。