Context:
Ensuring adequate handwashing with soap (HWWS) practices is of utmost importance in protecting children from diseases and supporting their overall development. Unfortunately, parents and caregivers face various psychosocial barriers that hinder their ability to consistently adhere to these essential practices. Therefore, it is crucial to identify and overcome these challenges in order to enhance HWWS and its impact. During the formative research conducted for Project Safal Shuruaat, common barriers faced by parents in practising HWWS were identified. These barriers include low risk perception, HWWS considered as an act of cleanliness than a disease prevention action, limited access to soap and clean water, notions of visibly clean hands, forgetfulness, and competing priorities. Overcoming these intrinsic and extrinsic barriers poses a significant challenge, as their recognition and understanding are often lacking.
Purpose:
The Barrier Prioritization Game served as a means for parents to openly discuss and rank their barriers to HWWS. By collectively ranking these challenges from the most to the least challenging, parents realized that overcoming them is not as difficult as it may seem. The game session provided parents with easy-to-implement solutions tailored to their identified barriers. The game created a fun and engaging environment that empowered parents to actively participate in finding practical ways to overcome their obstacles and ensure regular HWWS on key occasions.
Target Groups:
Parents of 0-2-year-old children
Key Messages:
Overcoming barriers to handwashing with soap is achievable with simple solutions and approaches.
Duration:
7-8 minutes
Required Resources:
The Barrier Prioritization tool
How to Use:
- Set up the game- the three-pole unit and the barrier blocks
- Ask parents about the factors that hinder them from practising regular HWWS
- Wait for their responses and place the blocks representing their barriers in front of them.
- For the barriers that were not mentioned, ask them individually and inquire if those difficulties also arise.
- Ask parents to use the three poles to categorize the barriers from very challenging to least challenging (largest pole to smallest pole)
- Ask them why a particular challenge is significant or small and what could be the solution to overcome it
- Discuss not only the barriers but also their possible solutions.
- Summarize and reflect
