Guidelines for use of narrative survey instruments to improve MDA for lymphatic filariasis elimination.

Literature examining reasons why recipients take drugs offered during mass drug administration (MDA) for the elimination of lymphatic filariasis (LF) suggests that few knowledge indicators explain recipients’ compliance with treatment. In fact, social factors, such as personally knowing the drug distributor, being aware of the MDA before it occurs, or knowing other people who have taken the LF drugs, have a strong influence on people’s decisions to comply with treatment. Through shifting the focus from the individual to the individual’s experiences within specific social contexts we  have a better chance of understanding  compliance and non-compliance and hence identifying how best to intervene to improve compliance rates for different sections of the population.
These guidelines outline the use of a novel tool and approach in public health research that places an individual’s situated or contextualised experience at the core of the research. Instead of asking about knowledge, this survey instrument asks individuals to recount their most recent experience with MDA and  then asks a series of questions about  that  narrative (or short story).