Beyond behaviour as individual choice: A call to expand understandings around social science in health research

The focus of behavioural sciences in shaping behaviour of individuals and populations is well documented. Research and practice insights from behavioural sciences improve our understanding of how people make choices that in turn determine their health, and in turn the health of the population. However, we argue that an isolated focus on behaviour - which is one link in a chain from macro to the micro interventions - is not in sync with the public health approach which per force includes a multi-level interest. The exclusive focus on behaviour manipulation then becomes a temporary solution at best and facilitator of reproduction of harmful structures at worst. Several researchers and policymakers have begun integrating insights from behavioural economics and related disciplines that explain individual choice, for example, by the establishment of Behavioural Insight Teams, or nudge units to inform the design and implementation of public health programs. In order to comprehensively improve public health, we discuss the limitations of an exclusive focus on behaviour change for public health advancement and call for an explicit integration of broader structural and population-level contexts, processes and factors that shape the lives of individuals and groups, health systems and differential health outcomes.

Disability, mental health, sexual orientation and gender identity: understanding health inequity through experience and difference

Background

This paper focuses on inequities in health in the context of disability, mental health, sexual orientation and gender identity (The authors’ location outside of these identities is acknowledged as a serious limitation in discussing experience as a framework to understand health inequity in the dimensions of disability, mental health, sexual orientation and gender identity). These are dimensions that lead to health inequity primarily through the pathways of stigma and discrimination. The aim here is to distinguish the unique characteristics of these groups and thereby try and articulate a new understanding of health and health equity with identity and difference in the foreground. We aim to bring attention to experience as a crucial parameter to discuss health equity in this context.

Discussion

Health inequity can be approached in two ways. One is to look at the lacuna in the current public health discourse in addressing the specific health concerns along the dimensions of disability, mental health, sexual orientation and gender identity. The second approach involves a more organic way of taking on board the concerns of these groups, rather than as after-thoughts; this involves a framework that gives a central role to the lived experience of stigma and discrimination.

The dimensions of disability, mental health, sexual orientation and gender identity affect health inequities constitutively, instrumentally through co-morbidities, and through stigma either directly or indirectly. Experience of stigma also forms the basis of identities and the difference between identities, which emerges as an important concept in the articulation of health inequities beyond measurable gaps. Recognition and representation of these differences then form the basis of an inclusive articulation on health.

Conclusion

The centrality of difference and experience prompts us to problematise the idea of equity that rests on ‘avoidable and unfair’, ‘differentials’ and even to argue that such a definition based on differentials, used in a quantitative sense, seriously limits our understanding of health inequity. Health equity will therefore not merely mean ‘closing avoidable health gaps,’ but mandate an inclusive social arrangement that celebrates difference.

Determinants of Micronutrient Fortified Blended Food (Balbhog) Consumption among Children 6-35 Months of Age Provided through the Integrated Child Development Services Program in Gujarat, India

CONTEXT

The state of Gujarat had introduced Extruded Fortified Blended Food, Balbhog, as take-home ration for children 6-35 months of age. The study aimed to understand awareness, availability, and consumption pattern of Balbhog and gain insights on factors influencing its regular use.

AIMS

This study aims to understand coverage and feeding practices of micronutrient fortified blended food (Balbhog) and determine factors for its regular use.

SUBJECTS AND METHODS

A cross-sectional survey of 1623 households with children of 6-35 months of age registered in Anganwadi centers was conducted in the four districts of Gujarat. Household and dietary survey were conducted to understand child care and feeding practices at household level.

RESULTS

The results showed high awareness about Balbhog (88.6%) among caregivers, with majority reporting using it (81.7%) before. Regular Balbhog consumption (42.2%), however, declined considerably across all population characteristics. Monthly distribution of adequate Balbhog packets, taste of Balbhog preparations, meal frequency of children, and caregivers' participation in the monthly Integrated Child Development Services (ICDS) event emerged as strong predictors of regular Balbhog consumption. No disparity in consumption was observed across socioeconomic characteristics of the population.

CONCLUSION

Household feeding practices and ICDS program factors mediated regular use of Balbhog among children. Improving availability of entitled Balbhog packets, raising awareness about Balbhog preparations, and improving child feeding practices could help in increasing Balbhog consumption in the community.

Barriers to higher education: commonalities and contrasts in the experiences of Hindu and Muslim young women in urban Bengaluru

Gender inequalities in educational attainment have attracted considerable attention and this article aims to contribute to our understanding of young women's access to higher education. The article is based on our in-depth interviews with 26 Hindu and Muslim young women attending colleges in urban Bengaluru (formerly Bangalore), south India, and explores the barriers they confronted in fulfilling their aspirations. We highlight the similarities amongst the young women, as well as the distinctive experiences of the Hindu and Muslim interviewees. Financial constraints, lack of safety for women in public space, and gender bias, gossip and social control within the family and the local community affected Hindu and Muslim interviewees in substantially similar ways. For the Muslim interviewees, however, gender disadvantage was compounded by their minority status. This both underlines the importance of incorporating communal politics into our analysis and undermines popular discourses that stereotype Muslims in India as averse to girls' and young women's education.

Qualitative research in applied situations: strategies to ensure rigor and validity

Traditionally, qualitative studies are founded on interpretative and constructive epistemology. The process of data collection in these studies is longer and intensive. This helps to build a strong rapport with the community, hence enabling to capture the field as naturally as possible. These characteristics provide an ample scope to take care of quality and validity of data. However, in applied situations, data collection is often a truncated activity. This robs away a number of taken-for-granted strengths of traditional qualitative research methods: No time is spent on rapport building; holism is left behind, instead we engage in selection; we focus narrowly on specific phenomenon of concern, divorced from its context; analysis does not evolve out of an iterative process. In this paper, we aim to discuss some of the issues related to rigor and quality of such studies and strategies available to address them.