How Conversations Shape Malaria Prevention Practices

Malaria prevention depends on the adoption of multiple behaviors –  like sleeping under a bednet and wearing clothes that cover the skin. Researchers find that conversations with people in one's own social circle are the strongest factors that influence behavior uptake. Transcript Malaria prevention depends on the adoption of multiple behaviors –  like sleeping under a bednet and wearing clothes that cover the skin – to reduce exposure to infectious mosquitoes. Theories of 'social influence' are often used to explain the uptake of single behaviors, in which an individual's relationship to others explains their adoption of certain behaviors. Yet, to better understand the uptake of different malaria prevention behaviors in a broader context, researchers looked beyond just social ties to consider the influence of behavior carry-over: where an individual who already adopts one prevention behavior is more likely to adopt another. Researchers applied this multi-level social network analysis to structured interviews from 10 villages in Northeast India, all conducted at a single point in time. They found that network exposure – talking to someone in your network who adopts a certain behavior – was the most important and consistent factor in explaining behavior uptake. This was more influential than individual behavior carry-over (which had no effect), existing village behavior patterns, or ties with health workers (which had minimal effect). This reinforces the importance of social discussion as the most significant factor in determining behavior uptake. Source A multilevel social network approach to studying multiple disease-prevention behaviors (Nature Scientific Reports) About The Podcast The Johns Hopkins Malaria Minute podcast is produced by the Johns Hopkins Malaria Research Institute to highlight impactful malaria research and to share it with the global community.