Chapter 8 Quantitative Part 3: Influencers and Reasons

In this third of three chapters analyzing Project RISE quantitative data, we take a close look at the role of different influencers on affecting perinatal behaviors and the stated reasons associated with behavior. A key premise of the Project RISE rationale is that behaviors do not exist in isolation; they are embedded in broader constellations of related behaviors, sets of beliefs, and sources of influence. This is why so many of the questions about behaviors in the quantitative survey we conducted in Bihar included follow-up questions asking why the behavior was done and who informed the woman about the relevance or necessity of the behavior. This chapter conducts statistical analysis of these parts of the survey. We find strong statistical evidence of the nature of the ASHA’s role being between worlds. We find that the ASHA has the strongest positive impact on the uptake of recommended biomedical behaviors in our sample of 1200 mothers. We also estimate the nature of influence for each combination of behavior and influencer in ways that allow statistical inference and comparison.