UNIVERSITY OF DENVER, 1990
POLITICAL SCIENCE, GENERAL (0615); ANTHROPOLOGY, CULTURAL (0326); HEALTH
SCIENCES, PUBLIC HEALTH (0573); URBAN AND REGIONAL PLANNING (0999)
The dissertation is a diffusion-of-innovation area research study examining
the adoption of community
water systems in three villages in the Nile Delta region of Egypt. It employs
an original public health
innovation decision-making model which embraces factors thought to influence
potential adopters'
behavior. The literature review details recent research in the areas of diffusion
of innovation and women
in rural development, with an analysis of weaknesses and strengths. The discussion
of the
innovation-decision-process model is featured. There is a presentation of concomitant
variation
cross-sectional field methodology; major hypotheses are listed. Data analytical
methods such as thematic
content analysis, structural equation modeling, ethnographic vignettes, and
descriptive statistics are
covered. Chapter IV sets forth selected qualitative and quantitative findings.
Results from structural
equation modeling are illustrated as are results presented in ethnographic village
vignettes. Chapter V
presents the conclusions. Public health policy implications include the following:
(1) The allocation of a
public health change agent is needed to educate the villagers on the need to
adopt potable water supply
and its benefits; (2) the water supply system must be reliable; (3) there is
a need for community
participation; (4) villagers must be trained in making simple repairs to the
water system; (5) villagers must
be actively utilized in the dissemination of information about potable water;
(6) there is a need to install
washing blocks in addition to public standpipes to enable the women to wash
the pots and utensils in
clean water; (7) the problem of low literacy level must be addressed since education
is needed for the
villagers to understand why potable water use is important; and finally, (8)
an alternative to canal bathing
and swimming must be found.
Social
Systems Simulation Group
P.O. Box 6904 San Diego, CA 92166-0904 Roland Werner, Principal Phone/FAX (619) 660-1603 |