Chapter 9 Vignettes

In this chapter we summarize Project RISE’s vignettes. Vignettes, as a method, can be considered as both qualitative and quantitative, as the objective is to quantify how people reason about realistic scenarios using coding frameworks applied to their responses. We gave a series of outcome-oriented vignettes to Mothers and ASHAs and also a separate series to ASHAs that focus on ASHA-specific topics. Part of this content is here in the current chapter but there is also an extensive Appendix with further analysis of the responses.

Overall, our results suggest that ASHAs seem to target messaging directly at Mothers for decisions that Mothers don’t see themselves as having autonomy over. At the very least, the Mothers view certain influencers as gatekeepers (such as mothers-in law and husbands) that constrain their decisions on some key matters. Many of the themes from other chapters are supported here, such as ASHAs having a positive view of their role in the communities, generally feeling respected for their work, and seeing themselves as promoting biomedical behaviors in a fruitful manner. We also see that support from others is key to ASHA success. ASHAs could probably reach out to other ASHAs more often than they do.