The Perception of Water Contamination and Risky Consumption in El Salvador from a Community Clinical Psychology Perspective

Andrea Caputo, Manuela Tomai, Carlo Lai, Asia Desideri, Elpiniki Pomoni, Hilda Cecilia Méndez, Bartolo Atilio Castellanos, Federica La Longa, Massimo Crescimbene, on behalf of the “Agua Futura” Consortium and Viviana Langher
Additional contact information
Andrea Caputo: Department of Dynamic and Clinical Psychology, and Health Studies, Sapienza University of Rome, 00185 Rome, Italy
Manuela Tomai: Department of Dynamic and Clinical Psychology, and Health Studies, Sapienza University of Rome, 00185 Rome, Italy
Carlo Lai: Department of Dynamic and Clinical Psychology, and Health Studies, Sapienza University of Rome, 00185 Rome, Italy
Asia Desideri: Department of Dynamic and Clinical Psychology, and Health Studies, Sapienza University of Rome, 00185 Rome, Italy
Elpiniki Pomoni: Institute of Geosciences and Earth Resources, National Research Council, 56127 Pisa, Italy
Hilda Cecilia Méndez: Faculty of Medicine, University of El Salvador (UES), San Salvador, El Salvador
Bartolo Atilio Castellanos: Faculty of Medicine, University of El Salvador (UES), San Salvador, El Salvador
Federica La Longa: National Institute of Geophysics and Volcanology, 00143 Rome, Italy
Massimo Crescimbene: National Institute of Geophysics and Volcanology, 00143 Rome, Italy
on behalf of the “Agua Futura” Consortium: Faculty of Medicine, University of El Salvador (UES), San Salvador, El Salvador
Viviana Langher: Department of Dynamic and Clinical Psychology, and Health Studies, Sapienza University of Rome, 00185 Rome, Italy

IJERPH, 2022, vol. 19, issue 3, 1-13

Abstract: This study was carried out as part of the international cooperation project “Agua Futura” for the improvement of water resource management and the promotion of water, sanitation, and hygiene (WASH) behaviors in rural communities of Central America. Given the relevant healthcare problem of water pollution, especially in El Salvador, the aim was to detect some key factors affecting the perception of water contamination and its risky consumption from a community clinical psychological perspective. Ninety rural inhabitants of El Salvador were administered a structured interview exploring their perceptions about water quality and the impact of water consumption on health. Data were analyzed through a computer-aided thematic analysis—complemented by a qualitative analysis—allowing the detection of sense-making processes based on lexical variability. Different themes were identified with regard to the perception of water quality (i.e., mistrust, danger, and safety) and the beliefs about the impact of water consumption on health (i.e., rationalization, denial, awareness, displacement, and isolation of affect). The results showed heterogeneous perspectives about water quality and sanitation. However, the perceived negative impact of water consumption on health was mostly denied or minimized through massive distortions. Overall, the study highlights the role of defensive patterns in facing issues of water contamination, which may prevent the community from adopting healthy behaviors and adequate water management behaviors.

Keywords: water; health risk; pollution; community clinical psychology (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I I1 I3 Q Q5 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2022
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/19/3/1109/pdf (application/pdf)
https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/19/3/1109/ (text/html)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:gam:jijerp:v:19:y:2022:i:3:p:1109-:d:728569

Access Statistics for this article

IJERPH is currently edited by Ms. Jenna Liu

More articles in IJERPH from MDPI
Bibliographic data for series maintained by MDPI Indexing Manager ().