| Introductory visits to community gate keepers |
Visits to key leaders in the community, who included district political and technical leaders, village health team leaders, community local council leaders and professions including health workers and teachers, and religious and cultural leaders. These included both men and women. |
| Transect walk |
Walks guided by community members with an understanding of the study aims and the local community; these were often VHTs. These walks focused on providing research assistants with an overview of the community, coupled with particular attention to sites related to water access (improved and unimproved), water contact (fishing, bathing etc.) and sanitation, including latrines and open defaecation sites. These walks also provided a means for research assistants to become visible and introduced to the community, and for guides to identify particular individuals or groups whom they considered may be of particular interest for the individual interviews and group discussions in the study. |
| Structured observations |
Having identified key sites through transect walks, research assistants undertook structured observations, noting types of water contact, duration, approximate age and gender of those contacting water, water contact for mixed use (e.g. water fetching and swimming) at different time points (morning, afternoon and evening) and on different days of the week; no observations were undertaken of open defaecation sites to maintain community members’ dignity and privacy. |
| Focus group discussions (FGDs) |
Focus group discussions were first undertaken with community leaders (8–10 people), which helped raise the profile of the study in the community, as well as providing perspectives from individuals with influence in different domains. These leaders included both men and women. Further FGDs were then undertaken with older men (≥35), older women (≥35), younger men (18–34 years), younger women (18–34 years), and children (8–11 years and 12–14 years) in order to capture both common attitudes and concerns by gender and age and the range of experiences and views within them. The same FGD guide was used in the introductory FGDs as for all the other FGDs. |
| Individual in-depth interviews (IDIs) |
Research-assistant-led semi-structured interviews about schistosomiasis. We targeted key individuals who shared their knowledge and experiences. |
| Participant observation |
Underpinning all other components was participant observation. Research assistants participated in day-to-day activities such as playing football, attending prayers at church and mosque, and being invited to attend a funeral. |
