Child survival in the Third World: a functional analysis of oral rehydration therapy dissemination campaigns

Behav Change. 1991;8(1):26-34. doi: 10.1017/s0813483900006884.

Abstract

PIP: Behavior analysts conducted a functional analysis of different intervention strategies employed in 14 oral rehydration therapy (ORT) campaigns in 10 developing countries. The intervention researchers manipulated antecedents, behaviors, and/or consequences to improve diarrhea management. The strategies used radio announcements, posters, and pamphlets to promote behavior change. Only 2 campaigns (Thailand and Egypt) limited their intervention to these antecedents. Only 3 programs manipulated antecedents, behaviors, and consequences. The 1983 campaign in Bangladesh incorporated school instruction to siblings and home visits as part of skill training and provided incentives to trainers (US$30) as its consequences. The 1985 project in the Gambia used health workers to teach mothers at home about ORT and awarded happy baby lottery prizes (rice, sugar, and soap). The skills training component of the 1984 campaign in Honduras involved 1-on-1 instruction. A radio course on breast feeding, school instruction of siblings, and an illustrated health care manual. Its consequences were games and prizes on radio program call in, free calendars, key rings, t-shirts and a trip to Tegucigalpa. The only program limited to a skills training component was the campaign in South India in 1976. The training involved training nurses to instruct mothers about diarrhea management. An obstacle in all the campaigns was that ORT does not outwardly improve diarrhea and vomiting immediately. Those campaigns that had a skills training component were more effective than those that did not. Behavior analysts could contribute to ORT campaigns by developing simple and effective training programs and developing economical and effective mechanisms to evaluate the effectiveness of such campaigns.

MeSH terms

  • Advertising*
  • Audiovisual Aids*
  • Behavior*
  • Communication
  • Demography
  • Developing Countries*
  • Diarrhea*
  • Disease
  • Economics
  • Education
  • Fluid Therapy*
  • Health Planning Guidelines*
  • Infant Mortality*
  • Longevity
  • Marketing of Health Services
  • Mass Media
  • Mortality
  • Organization and Administration
  • Pamphlets*
  • Population
  • Population Dynamics
  • Radio*
  • Survival Rate
  • Teaching*
  • Therapeutics