Changes in Defecation Practices and Household Behaviors Due to LTM Sample Clauses

Changes in Defecation Practices and Household Behaviors Due to LTM. ‌ Overall, mothers indicated a clear difference in their children’s defecation behaviors after their introduction to the latrine training mat. Children who would normally have defecated outside were now willing to use the LTM. Children no longer feared the latrine, and many used it more often than they had previously. This was the case across all LTM prototypes. Several mothers shared specific examples of ways in which the latrine training mat had brought about changes in their young children’s behavior, and discussed the state of their household before and after they introduced their children to this new tool. The LTM eased several children’s fear of using the latrine. Some mothers explained that before receiving the LTM, their children’s fear kept them from correctly using the latrine. They would miss the hole, and feces and urine would be left on the floor around the latrine. These mothers reported that the latrine training mat helped take away their children’s fear by reducing the size of the hole, and enabled them to use the latrine correctly with minimal mess. One mother explained that before receiving the LTM she had not allowed her child to use the latrine because the hole was too big for the child. She experienced a direct change in her child’s behavior because the latrine training mat changed the physical nature of the latrine: “Mine had not begun using the latrine…because that latrine hole was big…Children now train to use the latrine because the hole used to be big but now this thing has narrowed it.”(V1 R5, received LTM #2) Because children who used to defecate outside began using the latrine training mat in the latrine instead, mothers also reported that the LTM contributed to a cleaner compound, with fewer flies and odors. Similarly, the condition of the latrine improved after the introduction of the training mat. One mother reported that her young child sometimes used to touch the dirty floor of the latrine when he was inside. But since beginning to use the LTM, which was cleaned regularly, the mother felt more at ease about the child touching the surface beneath him while he was using the latrine: “Before [receiving the LTM], they used to touch the floor often..I wasn’t feeling good. At the moment even if they touch the floor I don’t feel bad; they don’t come into contact with dirt because it’s washed often.” (V2 R4, received LTM #2) Similarly, another mother commented on the fact that her latrine used to be difficult to clean because the ...