Determinants of exclusive consumption of fluoride-free water: a cross-sectional household study in rural Ethiopia by Alexandra C. Huber & Sarah Bhend & Hans-Joachim Mosler

Aim The occurrence of high fluoride concentrations in theground- and surface water all over the world leads to therisk of developing dental and skeletal fluorosis. In Ethiopia,8 million people depend on water sources with excessivefluoride. In four project areas in the Ethiopian Rift Valley,fluoride removal household filters based on bone charmedia have been implemented. This study examinespossible predictors of consuming filtered water derivedfrom various behavior change theories.Subject and methods In a complete cross-sectional survey,160 filter users were interviewed through structured face-tofaceinterviews. A logistic regression was carried out toreveal factors predicting consumption of filtered water.Results The results show that the consumption of fluoridefreewater is mainly related to people’s pride in offeringfiltered water to guests (status norm) and the feeling of beingable to produce enough water with the filter (perceivedbehavioral control). Moreover, the study showed that the morefilter users like the taste of filtered water and the moreexpensive they perceive the filter media, the more likely userswill exclusively consume filtered water (attitudinal beliefs).Furthermore, perceiving the act of filling as a matter of habit(perceived habit) enhances filtered water consumption