Does interviewer gender influence a mother's response to household surveys about maternal and child health in traditional settings? A qualitative study in Bihar, India.

<h4>Background</h4>Two probability surveys, conducted in the same districts of Bihar, India (Aurangabad and Gopalganj) at approximately the same time in 2016 using identical questionnaires and similar survey methods, produced significantly different responses for 37.2% (58/156) of the in...

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Autores principales:	Nancy Vollmer, Mansha Singh, Navika Harshe, Joseph J Valadez
Formato:	article
Lenguaje:	EN
Publicado:	Public Library of Science (PLoS) 2021
Materias:	Medicine R Science Q
Acceso en línea:	https://doaj.org/article/97ccd6d286db4ee98f5294bf5e384d7d
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spelling	oai:doaj.org-article:97ccd6d286db4ee98f5294bf5e384d7d2021-12-02T20:03:52ZDoes interviewer gender influence a mother's response to household surveys about maternal and child health in traditional settings? A qualitative study in Bihar, India.1932-620310.1371/journal.pone.0252120https://doaj.org/article/97ccd6d286db4ee98f5294bf5e384d7d2021-01-01T00:00:00Zhttps://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0252120https://doaj.org/toc/1932-6203<h4>Background</h4>Two probability surveys, conducted in the same districts of Bihar, India (Aurangabad and Gopalganj) at approximately the same time in 2016 using identical questionnaires and similar survey methods, produced significantly different responses for 37.2% (58/156) of the indicator comparisons. Interviewers for one survey were men while for the other they were women. Respondents were mothers of children aged 0-59 months living in a traditional rural setting. We examined the influence of interviewer gender on mothers' survey responses and their implications for interpreting survey results.<h4>Methods</h4>We used qualitative methods including 10 focus group discussions (FGDs) and 33 in-depth interviews (IDIs) in the same locations as the 2016 surveys. FGD participants were purposefully selected mothers with children 0-59 months, husbands and other in-law family members. IDIs were carried out with frontline health-workers, enumerators and supervisors from the two previous household surveys.<h4>Results</h4>Findings revealed a preference for female interviewers for household surveys in study districts as they facilitated access to mothers and reduced their discomfort as survey participants. However, this gender preference was related to the survey question. Regardless of age, caste and educational level, most mothers were not permitted to communicate with men (aside from husbands) about female-specific health topics, including birth preparedness, delivery, menstrual cycles, contraception, breastfeeding, sexual behaviour, sexually transmitted disease, and domestic violence. Mothers in higher castes perceived these social restrictions more acutely than mothers in lower castes. There was no systematic direction of the resulting error. Mothers were willing to discuss child health issues with interviewers of either gender.<h4>Conclusions</h4>Interviewer gender is an important consideration when designing survey protocols for maternal and reproductive health studies and when selecting and training enumerators. Female interviewers are optimal for traditional settings in Bihar as they are more likely to obtain accurate data on sensitive topics and reduce the potential for non-sampling error due to their reduced social distance with maternal respondents.Nancy VollmerMansha SinghNavika HarsheJoseph J ValadezPublic Library of Science (PLoS)articleMedicineRScienceQENPLoS ONE, Vol 16, Iss 6, p e0252120 (2021)
institution	DOAJ
collection	DOAJ
language	EN
topic	Medicine R Science Q
spellingShingle	Medicine R Science Q Nancy Vollmer Mansha Singh Navika Harshe Joseph J Valadez Does interviewer gender influence a mother's response to household surveys about maternal and child health in traditional settings? A qualitative study in Bihar, India.
description	<h4>Background</h4>Two probability surveys, conducted in the same districts of Bihar, India (Aurangabad and Gopalganj) at approximately the same time in 2016 using identical questionnaires and similar survey methods, produced significantly different responses for 37.2% (58/156) of the indicator comparisons. Interviewers for one survey were men while for the other they were women. Respondents were mothers of children aged 0-59 months living in a traditional rural setting. We examined the influence of interviewer gender on mothers' survey responses and their implications for interpreting survey results.<h4>Methods</h4>We used qualitative methods including 10 focus group discussions (FGDs) and 33 in-depth interviews (IDIs) in the same locations as the 2016 surveys. FGD participants were purposefully selected mothers with children 0-59 months, husbands and other in-law family members. IDIs were carried out with frontline health-workers, enumerators and supervisors from the two previous household surveys.<h4>Results</h4>Findings revealed a preference for female interviewers for household surveys in study districts as they facilitated access to mothers and reduced their discomfort as survey participants. However, this gender preference was related to the survey question. Regardless of age, caste and educational level, most mothers were not permitted to communicate with men (aside from husbands) about female-specific health topics, including birth preparedness, delivery, menstrual cycles, contraception, breastfeeding, sexual behaviour, sexually transmitted disease, and domestic violence. Mothers in higher castes perceived these social restrictions more acutely than mothers in lower castes. There was no systematic direction of the resulting error. Mothers were willing to discuss child health issues with interviewers of either gender.<h4>Conclusions</h4>Interviewer gender is an important consideration when designing survey protocols for maternal and reproductive health studies and when selecting and training enumerators. Female interviewers are optimal for traditional settings in Bihar as they are more likely to obtain accurate data on sensitive topics and reduce the potential for non-sampling error due to their reduced social distance with maternal respondents.
format	article
author	Nancy Vollmer Mansha Singh Navika Harshe Joseph J Valadez
author_facet	Nancy Vollmer Mansha Singh Navika Harshe Joseph J Valadez
author_sort	Nancy Vollmer
title	Does interviewer gender influence a mother's response to household surveys about maternal and child health in traditional settings? A qualitative study in Bihar, India.
title_short	Does interviewer gender influence a mother's response to household surveys about maternal and child health in traditional settings? A qualitative study in Bihar, India.
title_full	Does interviewer gender influence a mother's response to household surveys about maternal and child health in traditional settings? A qualitative study in Bihar, India.
title_fullStr	Does interviewer gender influence a mother's response to household surveys about maternal and child health in traditional settings? A qualitative study in Bihar, India.
title_full_unstemmed	Does interviewer gender influence a mother's response to household surveys about maternal and child health in traditional settings? A qualitative study in Bihar, India.
title_sort	does interviewer gender influence a mother's response to household surveys about maternal and child health in traditional settings? a qualitative study in bihar, india.
publisher	Public Library of Science (PLoS)
publishDate	2021
url	https://doaj.org/article/97ccd6d286db4ee98f5294bf5e384d7d
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Does interviewer gender influence a mother's response to household surveys about maternal and child health in traditional settings? A qualitative study in Bihar, India.

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