Evaluation of psychosocial factors affecting faecal sludge desludging practice compliance in Bekasi City

Abstract

Desludging operators have important role in on site sanitation to achieve safe sanitation. Desludging practice have to comply with the principles of safe sanitation and regulations to maintain the health and safety of the worker, the community, and the environment. However, the implementation of desludging sometimes does not comply with safe sanitation principle and regulation. This study aims to identify the compliance of faecal sludge desludging with regulation and safe sanitation principle. Furthermore, Theoretical Domains Framework (TDF) is applied to explore psychosocial factors of the operators that affect desludging practice. Questionnaire assessing desludging practice and psychosocial factors based on TDF was given to 32 desludging operators that works in local government and private desludging services in Bekasi City. Desludging practice in Bekasi City were not comply desludging practice procedure. From desludging procedure compliance, only 56% of the respondents claimed to have carried out the desludging practice in accordance with the procedures, low percentage also found in the worker’s safety procedure especially in wearing Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) eventhough mostly do not do high risk action in emptying. Related to faecal sludge disposal procedure, high percentage (84%) of workers always discharge to Faecal Sludge Treatment Plant (FSTP), while some small amount (16%) often follow the discharge procedure. Spearman’s Rank Correlation analysis was used to determine domains in TDF that significantly affecting desludging practice compliance. From the correlation analysis, Knowledge (ρ = 0.505; P =0.003), Beliefs about consequences (ρ =0.473; P = 0.006), and Environmental context and resources (ρ =0.389; P = 0.028) are statistically significant affecting desludging practice.