Psychosocial and social marketing determinants of intentions to own and use mosquito nets in southern Ethiopia

Purpose: Malaria is an endemic problem in Ethiopia with significant adverse public health and socioeconomic consequences. The purpose of this study is to identify the patterns and correlates of intentions to own and use mosquito nets among urban and rural households in southern Ethiopia.

Methods: A survey was carried out with primary care givers of children under five years of age in systematically selected households (n = 1,206) in urban and rural areas in southern Ethiopia. We used descriptive statistics and stepwise logistic regression analysis. Predictors in our models included: socio-demographic characteristics (e.g., age, marital status and family size), psychosocial factors (e.g., malaria knowledge, perceived social norms and self-efficacy for using bednets) and social marketing activities (e.g., messages about malaria and bednets).

Results: Slightly more than 80% of primary care givers expressed intention to own and/or use mosquito nets within the next six months. Both intent to own and use mosquito nets were associated with being married, being Muslim, perceived positive attributes of bednets, perceived social norm for use, perceived self-efficacy for use, perceived susceptibility for malaria, perceived effectiveness of mosquito nets, and higher levels of recall of malaria related social marketing messages. Socioeconomic factors, such as household possessions, and perceived availability of the bednets were unrelated to intentions. Overall, our models accounted for about 30% of the variations in intentions to own or use bednets.

Recommendations: Both socio-demographic and psychosocial factors should be considered when designing social marketing programs that aim to increase use of mosquito nets.