TY - JOUR

T1 - Sense of community and willingness to support malaria intervention programme in urban poor Accra, Ghana

AU - Atiglo, D. Yaw

AU - Larbi, Reuben Tete

AU - Kushitor, Mawuli Komla

AU - Biney, Adriana A.E.

AU - Asante, Paapa Yaw

AU - Dodoo, Naa Dodua

AU - Dodoo, F. Nii Amoo

PY - 2018/8/10

Y1 - 2018/8/10

N2 - Background: The extensive research on community members' willingness to support malaria interventions ignores the role of psychosocial determinants. This study assesses the impact of individuals' sense of community (perceptions of community cohesion, altruism, seeking help from neighbours and migrant status) on their willingness to participate in a mosquito control programme using data on 768 individuals from the 2013 RIPS Urban Health and Poverty Survey in poor coastal communities in Accra, Ghana. A contingent valuation experiment was employed to elicit individuals' willingness to support the programme by contributing nothing, labour time/money only or both. Results: Findings show that different dimensions of sense of community related differently with willingness to support the programme. Perceived community cohesion was associated with lower odds while help-seeking from neighbours and being a migrant were associated with higher odds of supporting the programme. Altruism was the only dimension not linked to willingness to participate. Conclusions: Different dimensions of sense of community are associated with community members' willingness to provide labour, time or both to support the malaria eradication programme. The findings of this study have implications for targeting social relational aspects, in addition to geographical aspects, of communities with malaria-resilient policy and intervention. They also warrant further research on psychosocial factors that predict willingness to support health programmes in urban poor settings.

AB - Background: The extensive research on community members' willingness to support malaria interventions ignores the role of psychosocial determinants. This study assesses the impact of individuals' sense of community (perceptions of community cohesion, altruism, seeking help from neighbours and migrant status) on their willingness to participate in a mosquito control programme using data on 768 individuals from the 2013 RIPS Urban Health and Poverty Survey in poor coastal communities in Accra, Ghana. A contingent valuation experiment was employed to elicit individuals' willingness to support the programme by contributing nothing, labour time/money only or both. Results: Findings show that different dimensions of sense of community related differently with willingness to support the programme. Perceived community cohesion was associated with lower odds while help-seeking from neighbours and being a migrant were associated with higher odds of supporting the programme. Altruism was the only dimension not linked to willingness to participate. Conclusions: Different dimensions of sense of community are associated with community members' willingness to provide labour, time or both to support the malaria eradication programme. The findings of this study have implications for targeting social relational aspects, in addition to geographical aspects, of communities with malaria-resilient policy and intervention. They also warrant further research on psychosocial factors that predict willingness to support health programmes in urban poor settings.

KW - Contingent valuation experiment

KW - Ghana

KW - Malaria

KW - Sense of community

KW - Urban poor

KW - Willingness to participate

U2 - 10.1186/s12936-018-2424-0

DO - 10.1186/s12936-018-2424-0

M3 - Journal article

C2 - 30097021

AN - SCOPUS:85051330766

VL - 17

JO - Malaria Journal

JF - Malaria Journal

SN - 1475-2875

IS - 1

M1 - 289

ER -