MATERNAL AND CHILD HEALTH
In-depth qualitative research on women’s health capability revealed significant health capability deficits. Our research has demonstrated that to understand and improve women's health agency we must better understand the local infrastructure, health system, cultural norms about autonomy, and male and female perceptions of participation and self-efficacy. Additionally, for a health intervention to improve women's health capability, explicit strategies to improve health agency should be as central as specific health goals. We found differences in women’s health agency by age (elder women demonstrated the greatest sense of self-efficacy both individually and as a group and cited the largest number of successful health advocacy efforts) and socioeconomic status (a significant factor in participation). We tested communities' ability to adapt and change behaviors that improve health in the context of a health system. We demonstrated that conventional social scientific methods alone won't effectively elucidate health capability successes and failures. Rather, untangling the numerous layers and causal influences that shape people's health capability requires qualitative studies in addition to quantitative studies: a mixed-methods approach is needed. Focus group scenarios engaged participants and raising issues in public conversation was significant as well.
CULTURAL NORMS
PERCEPTIONS
SELF-EFFICACY