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• 1. [Article] Assessing the Impact of Water Filters and Improved Cook Stoves on Drinking Water Quality and Household Air Pollution: A Randomised Controlled Trial in Rwanda

  Diarrhea and respiratory infections remain the biggest killers of children under 5 years in developing countries. We conducted a 5-month household randomised controlled trial among 566 households in rural ...

  Citation × Citation Citation Abstract Copy Title: Assessing the Impact of Water Filters and Improved Cook Stoves on Drinking Water Quality and Household Air Pollution: A Randomised Controlled Trial in Rwanda Author: Rosa, Ghislaine, Majorin, Fiona, Boisson, Sophie, Barstow, Christina, Johnson, Michael, Kirby, Miles, Ngabo, Fidele, Thomas, Evan A., Clasen, Thomas Year: 2014 Diarrhea and respiratory infections remain the biggest killers of children under 5 years in developing countries. We conducted a 5-month household randomised controlled trial among 566 households in rural Rwanda to assess uptake, compliance and impact on environmental exposures of a combined intervention delivering high-performance water filters and improved stoves for free. Compliance was measured monthly by self-report and spot-check observations. Semicontinuous 24-h PM2.5 monitoring of the cooking area was conducted in a random subsample of 121 households to assess household air pollution, while samples of drinking water from all households were collected monthly to assess the levels of thermotolerant coliforms. Adoption was generally high, with most householders reporting the filters as their primary source of drinking water and the intervention stoves as their primary cooking stove. However, some householders continued to drink untreated water and most continued to cook on traditional stoves. The intervention was associated with a 97.5% reduction in mean fecal indicator bacteria (Williams means 0.5 vs. 20.2 TTC/100 mL, p,0.001) and a median reduction of 48% of 24-h PM2.5 concentrations in the cooking area (p = 0.005). Further studies to increase compliance should be undertaken to better inform large-scale interventions. Title: Assessing the Impact of Water Filters and Improved Cook Stoves on Drinking Water Quality and Household Air Pollution: A Randomised Controlled Trial in Rwanda Author: Rosa, Ghislaine, Majorin, Fiona, Boisson, Sophie, Barstow, Christina, Johnson, Michael, Kirby, Miles, Ngabo, Fidele, Thomas, Evan A., Clasen, Thomas Year: 2014 Diarrhea and respiratory infections remain the biggest killers of children under 5 years in developing countries. We conducted a 5-month household randomised controlled trial among 566 households in rural Rwanda to assess uptake, compliance and impact on environmental exposures of a combined intervention delivering high-performance water filters and improved stoves for free. Compliance was measured monthly by self-report and spot-check observations. Semicontinuous 24-h PM2.5 monitoring of the cooking area was conducted in a random subsample of 121 households to assess household air pollution, while samples of drinking water from all households were collected monthly to assess the levels of thermotolerant coliforms. Adoption was generally high, with most householders reporting the filters as their primary source of drinking water and the intervention stoves as their primary cooking stove. However, some householders continued to drink untreated water and most continued to cook on traditional stoves. The intervention was associated with a 97.5% reduction in mean fecal indicator bacteria (Williams means 0.5 vs. 20.2 TTC/100 mL, p,0.001) and a median reduction of 48% of 24-h PM2.5 concentrations in the cooking area (p = 0.005). Further studies to increase compliance should be undertaken to better inform large-scale interventions. Close

• 2. [Article] Assessing Latrine Use in Rural India: A Cross-Sectional Study Comparing Reported Use and Passive Latrine Use Monitors

  Although large-scale programs, like India's Total Sanitation Campaign (TSC), have improved latrine coverage in rural settings, evidence suggests that actual use is suboptimal. However, the reliability ...

  Citation × Citation Citation Abstract Copy Title: Assessing Latrine Use in Rural India: A Cross-Sectional Study Comparing Reported Use and Passive Latrine Use Monitors Author: Sinha, Antara, Nagel, Corey L., Thomas, Evan A., Schmidt, Wolf P., Torondel, Belen, Boisson, Sophie, Clasen, Thomas Year: 2016 Although large-scale programs, like India's Total Sanitation Campaign (TSC), have improved latrine coverage in rural settings, evidence suggests that actual use is suboptimal. However, the reliability of methods to assess latrine use is uncertain. We assessed the reliability of reported use, the standard method, by comparing survey-based responses against passive latrine use monitors (PLUMs) through a cross-sectional study among 292 households in 25 villages in rural Odisha, India, which recently received individual household latrines under the TSC. PLUMs were installed for 2 weeks and householders responded to surveys about their latrine use behavior. Reported use was compared with PLUM results using Bland–Altman (BA) plots and concordance statistics. Reported use was higher than corresponding PLUM-recorded events across the range of comparisons. The mean reported “usual” daily events per household (7.09, 95% confidence interval [CI] = 6.51, 7.68) was nearly twice that of the PLUM-recorded daily average (3.62, 95% CI = 3.29, 3.94). There was poor agreement between “usual” daily latrine use and the average daily PLUM-recorded events (ρc = 0.331, 95% CI = 0.242, 0.427). Moderate agreement (ρc = 0.598, 95% CI = 0.497, 0.683) was obtained when comparing daily reported use during the previous 48 hours with the average daily PLUM count. Reported latrine use, though already suggesting suboptimal adoption, likely exaggerates the actual level of uptake of latrines constructed under the program. Where reliance on self-reports is used, survey questions should focus on the 48 hours prior to the date of the survey rather than asking about “usual” latrine use behavior. Title: Assessing Latrine Use in Rural India: A Cross-Sectional Study Comparing Reported Use and Passive Latrine Use Monitors Author: Sinha, Antara, Nagel, Corey L., Thomas, Evan A., Schmidt, Wolf P., Torondel, Belen, Boisson, Sophie, Clasen, Thomas Year: 2016 Although large-scale programs, like India's Total Sanitation Campaign (TSC), have improved latrine coverage in rural settings, evidence suggests that actual use is suboptimal. However, the reliability of methods to assess latrine use is uncertain. We assessed the reliability of reported use, the standard method, by comparing survey-based responses against passive latrine use monitors (PLUMs) through a cross-sectional study among 292 households in 25 villages in rural Odisha, India, which recently received individual household latrines under the TSC. PLUMs were installed for 2 weeks and householders responded to surveys about their latrine use behavior. Reported use was compared with PLUM results using Bland–Altman (BA) plots and concordance statistics. Reported use was higher than corresponding PLUM-recorded events across the range of comparisons. The mean reported “usual” daily events per household (7.09, 95% confidence interval [CI] = 6.51, 7.68) was nearly twice that of the PLUM-recorded daily average (3.62, 95% CI = 3.29, 3.94). There was poor agreement between “usual” daily latrine use and the average daily PLUM-recorded events (ρc = 0.331, 95% CI = 0.242, 0.427). Moderate agreement (ρc = 0.598, 95% CI = 0.497, 0.683) was obtained when comparing daily reported use during the previous 48 hours with the average daily PLUM count. Reported latrine use, though already suggesting suboptimal adoption, likely exaggerates the actual level of uptake of latrines constructed under the program. Where reliance on self-reports is used, survey questions should focus on the 48 hours prior to the date of the survey rather than asking about “usual” latrine use behavior. Close

• 3. [Article] Behavioral Reactivity Associated With Electronic Monitoring of Environmental Health Interventions-A Cluster Randomized Trial with Water Filters and Cookstoves

  Subject reactivity—when research participants change their behavior in response to being observed—has been documented showing the effect of human observers. Electronics sensors are increasingly used to ...

  Citation × Citation Citation Abstract Copy Title: Behavioral Reactivity Associated With Electronic Monitoring of Environmental Health Interventions-A Cluster Randomized Trial with Water Filters and Cookstoves Author: Thomas, Evan A., Tellez-Sanchez, Sarita, Wick, Carson, Kirby, Miles Year: 2016 Subject reactivity—when research participants change their behavior in response to being observed—has been documented showing the effect of human observers. Electronics sensors are increasingly used to monitor environmental health interventions, but the effect of sensors on behavior has not been assessed. We conducted a cluster randomized controlled trial in Rwanda among 170 households (70 blinded to the presence of the sensor, 100 open) testing whether awareness of an electronic monitor would result in a difference in weekly use of household water filters and improved cookstoves over a four-week surveillance period. A 63% increase in number of uses of the water filter per week between the groups was observed in week 1, an average of 4.4 times in the open group and 2.83 times in the blind group, declining in week 4 to an insignificant 55% difference of 2.82 uses in the open, and 1.93 in the blind. There were no significant differences in the number of stove uses per week between the two groups. For both filters and stoves, use decreased in both groups over four-week installation periods. This study suggests behavioral monitoring should attempt to account for reactivity to awareness of electronic monitors that persists for weeks or more. Title: Behavioral Reactivity Associated With Electronic Monitoring of Environmental Health Interventions-A Cluster Randomized Trial with Water Filters and Cookstoves Author: Thomas, Evan A., Tellez-Sanchez, Sarita, Wick, Carson, Kirby, Miles Year: 2016 Subject reactivity—when research participants change their behavior in response to being observed—has been documented showing the effect of human observers. Electronics sensors are increasingly used to monitor environmental health interventions, but the effect of sensors on behavior has not been assessed. We conducted a cluster randomized controlled trial in Rwanda among 170 households (70 blinded to the presence of the sensor, 100 open) testing whether awareness of an electronic monitor would result in a difference in weekly use of household water filters and improved cookstoves over a four-week surveillance period. A 63% increase in number of uses of the water filter per week between the groups was observed in week 1, an average of 4.4 times in the open group and 2.83 times in the blind group, declining in week 4 to an insignificant 55% difference of 2.82 uses in the open, and 1.93 in the blind. There were no significant differences in the number of stove uses per week between the two groups. For both filters and stoves, use decreased in both groups over four-week installation periods. This study suggests behavioral monitoring should attempt to account for reactivity to awareness of electronic monitors that persists for weeks or more. Close

• 4. [Article] Understanding Residential Location Choices for Climate Change and Transportation Decision Making: Phase 2 Report

  This research builds on the related Phase 1 project. In this second phase, we continue to study neighborhood and housing preferences that shape the residential location decision process. An online experimental ...

  Citation × Citation Citation Abstract Copy Title: Understanding Residential Location Choices for Climate Change and Transportation Decision Making: Phase 2 Report Author: Clifton, Kelly J., Gehrke, Steven R., Currans, Kristina Marie Year: 2015 This research builds on the related Phase 1 project. In this second phase, we continue to study neighborhood and housing preferences that shape the residential location decision process. An online experimental survey tool is developed to investigate lifestyle preferences and tradeoffs that households make in their location decisions. This computer-aided experimental survey draws upon stated preference methods to engage participants in questions about residential location and transportation options. The survey infrastructure was extensively piloted (6-10% response rate). The 10-minute survey can be deployed for future investigations. This infrastructure is a contribution for the integration of visualized neighborhood typologies, or concepts, which were objectively defined using data from 25 of the most populous metropolitan regions from around the United States. The construct of neighborhoods is based upon national data to account for potential options not currently available in Oregon. These visualizations help ground the survey respondents in the same reality and were carefully crafted to convey various attributes of the built and transportation environment. The initial analysis of the preference data collected in this survey (N=1,035) indicates that the preferences for neighborhood, housing, and transportation characteristics have a greater influence on the preferred neighborhood concept than the more typically used socio-economic characteristics (income, household size, age). Another interesting preliminary finding is that 27% of respondents would prefer to live in a more urban neighborhood than they currently reside. These “urban seeking” respondents had no particular demographic trend, providing little evidence that specific socioeconomic markets had specific preferences for the built environment. Title: Understanding Residential Location Choices for Climate Change and Transportation Decision Making: Phase 2 Report Author: Clifton, Kelly J., Gehrke, Steven R., Currans, Kristina Marie Year: 2015 This research builds on the related Phase 1 project. In this second phase, we continue to study neighborhood and housing preferences that shape the residential location decision process. An online experimental survey tool is developed to investigate lifestyle preferences and tradeoffs that households make in their location decisions. This computer-aided experimental survey draws upon stated preference methods to engage participants in questions about residential location and transportation options. The survey infrastructure was extensively piloted (6-10% response rate). The 10-minute survey can be deployed for future investigations. This infrastructure is a contribution for the integration of visualized neighborhood typologies, or concepts, which were objectively defined using data from 25 of the most populous metropolitan regions from around the United States. The construct of neighborhoods is based upon national data to account for potential options not currently available in Oregon. These visualizations help ground the survey respondents in the same reality and were carefully crafted to convey various attributes of the built and transportation environment. The initial analysis of the preference data collected in this survey (N=1,035) indicates that the preferences for neighborhood, housing, and transportation characteristics have a greater influence on the preferred neighborhood concept than the more typically used socio-economic characteristics (income, household size, age). Another interesting preliminary finding is that 27% of respondents would prefer to live in a more urban neighborhood than they currently reside. These “urban seeking” respondents had no particular demographic trend, providing little evidence that specific socioeconomic markets had specific preferences for the built environment. Close