Does interviewer gender influence a mother’s response to household surveys about maternal and child health in traditional settings? A qualitative study in Bihar, India

Autor: Joseph J. Valadez, Navika Harshe, Nancy Vollmer, Mansha Singh
Jazyk: angličtina
Rok vydání: 2021
Předmět:
Sexually transmitted disease
Male
Rural Population
Breastfeeding
Social Sciences
Surveys
Pediatrics
Geographical Locations
Survey methodology
Families
0302 clinical medicine
0504 sociology
Sociology
Surveys and Questionnaires
Medicine and Health Sciences
Public and Occupational Health
030212 general & internal medicine
Human Families
Qualitative Research
Reproductive health
Family Characteristics
Multidisciplinary
Social distance
05 social sciences
wa_900
Child Health
Social Communication
Prenatal Care
Focus Groups
Breast Feeding
Reproductive Health
Research Design
Child
Preschool
Medicine
Educational Status
Female
Psychology
Research Article
Asia
Adolescent
Science
Mothers
India
wa_395
wa_310
Research and Analysis Methods
Sexual and Gender Issues
03 medical and health sciences
Humans
wq_100
Spouses
Survey Research
business.industry
Infant
Newborn
050401 social sciences methods
Infant
Focus group
Communications
Social Class
People and Places
Domestic violence
Population Groupings
business
Qualitative research
Demography
Zdroj: PLoS ONE
PLoS ONE, Vol 16, Iss 6, p e0252120 (2021)
ISSN: 1932-6203
Popis: Background Two probability surveys, conducted in the same districts of Bihar, India (Aurangabad and Gopalganj) at approximately the same time in 2016 using identical questionnaires and similar survey methods, produced significantly different responses for 37.2% (58/156) of the indicator comparisons. Interviewers for one survey were men while for the other they were women. Respondents were mothers of children aged 0–59 months living in a traditional rural setting. We examined the influence of interviewer gender on mothers’ survey responses and their implications for interpreting survey results. Methods We used qualitative methods including 10 focus group discussions (FGDs) and 33 in-depth interviews (IDIs) in the same locations as the 2016 surveys. FGD participants were purposefully selected mothers with children 0–59 months, husbands and other in-law family members. IDIs were carried out with frontline health-workers, enumerators and supervisors from the two previous household surveys. Results Findings revealed a preference for female interviewers for household surveys in study districts as they facilitated access to mothers and reduced their discomfort as survey participants. However, this gender preference was related to the survey question. Regardless of age, caste and educational level, most mothers were not permitted to communicate with men (aside from husbands) about female-specific health topics, including birth preparedness, delivery, menstrual cycles, contraception, breastfeeding, sexual behaviour, sexually transmitted disease, and domestic violence. Mothers in higher castes perceived these social restrictions more acutely than mothers in lower castes. There was no systematic direction of the resulting error. Mothers were willing to discuss child health issues with interviewers of either gender. Conclusions Interviewer gender is an important consideration when designing survey protocols for maternal and reproductive health studies and when selecting and training enumerators. Female interviewers are optimal for traditional settings in Bihar as they are more likely to obtain accurate data on sensitive topics and reduce the potential for non-sampling error due to their reduced social distance with maternal respondents.
Databáze: OpenAIRE
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