Jurgita Slekiene|Hans?Joachim Mosler
The link between mental health and safe drinking water behaviors in a vulnerable population in rural Malawi
Swiss Federal Institute of Aquatic Science and Technology|Swiss Federal Institute of Aquatic Science and Technology
mental disorders particularly depression posttraumatic stress disorder common longterm psychological outcomes emergency contexts arising conflicts natural disasters challenging environmental conditions emergencies people suffer lack external resources drinking water food also poor mental health mental disorders substantially impair daily activities vulnerable individuals however water sanitation hygiene wash behaviors daily activities require effort time strong internal motivation therefore questions arise whether relationship mental health safe water behaviors whether motivational drivers behaviors affected mental health crosssectional study conducted facetoface interviews 638 households rural malawi used quantitative questionnaire based risks attitudes norms abilities selfregulation ranas approach measure motivational psychosocial factors mental health assessed using validated chichewa version selfreporting questionnaire srq20 results almost third respondents reported poor mental health found significant negative association mental health selfreported safe water collection p 01 r 104 safe water transportation storage behavior moderation analysis revealed significant interaction effects mental health psychosocial factors therefore wash behaviors poor mental health changed influence three psychosocial factorsperceived others behavior commitment rememberingon safe drinking water collection behavior influence water transportation storage behavior perceived severity contracting disease belief transporting storing water requires substantial effort others approval depended mental health condition respondent results imply populations significant proportion individuals poor mental health benefit interventions mitigate mental health parallel behavioral change interventions wash specific populationlevel interventions shown positive effect mental wellbeing successfully applied scale research especially relevant emergency contexts indicates mental health measures wash interventions make effective