6533b82afe1ef96bd128b478

RESEARCH PRODUCT

Transmissible vector diseases: representations, behaviors and personal involvement in health and environment after the chikungunya epidemic

subject

description

As part of the ANTHROPO-MTV research project (ANR SEST program), we focused on common sense thinking about vector-borne diseases, using the example of chikungunya, through an interdisciplinary quantitative survey carried out at Meeting. Here we present the results from the psychosocial component. The survey was conducted by questionnaire in November 2007 among 415 households. It was preceded by interviews with inhabitants of the island and with various institutional and health professionals. These interviews were supplemented by field observations, in particular during the prevention operations of LAV teams from the DRASS. In terms of results: We have identified the social representations of chikungunya and measured the level of personal involvement of participants in this disease with the assumption that the representations of Reunionese vis-à-vis chikungunya and their associated behaviors depended, among others, their personal involvement with this disease, and more specifically their perception of their ability to respond individually and collectively. The representations of this disease were largely descriptive and not very functional: they were not very effective in prescribing behaviors to adopt. At the level of personal involvement, the participants reported almost unanimously a significant valuation of the risk of disease, but a very limited personal identification (little concerned with the risk of disease). The third component of personal involvement, the perceived capacity for action, made it possible to oppose two groups. Among the participants who perceived a stronger capacity for action, the expression of the representation showed a greater salience of the functional aspects, related in particular to the means of transmission and protection against the disease.