I use my art practice in conjunction with environmental behaviour research and Michel de Certeau’s practice of the everyday, to enable a re-examination of socially engaged art and through art to activate environmental behaviour change. Questions Clarify contemporary debate about demonstrable and desirable aspects and issues of socially engaged art practice and through my own practice identify its key characteristics. Examine the claim for change offered by many socially engaged practitioners. Context The socially engaged artist operates outside of the gallery, in everyday lives and real situations, often engaging in issues of meaning to society at large, where participation and facilitation of dialogue are the common characteristics. I identify participation, the ambition of social change, aesthetic representation and a failure to communicate beyond the participative event as key considerations. (Bishop 2004; Bourriaud 2002; Kester 2004; Kwon 2004) I propose an aesthetic of presence, to recognise community as a creative vernacular and as pooled knowledge. Drawn from Michel de Certeau’s research into everyday life (Michel de Certeau 1985; Michel de Certeau et al. 1998a) this also provides a refocusing on participation through conversation and describes rupture events, which signify change occurring. Method This thesis compares research in an alternative field, environmental behaviour, which investigates the impediments to change (the value-action gap), how change happens and identifies the change agent, as essential to encourage change at a personal level. (Ballard and Associates 2005b; Darnton et al. 2006) I use the value-action gap, the tension point between knowing about climate change and failing to make changes in our own behaviour, (Blake 1999; Darnton 2004b; Kollmus and Agyeman 2002) as a direct impetus to make participative artwork that examines the idea of a sustainable lifestyle. My art practice recognises a three-stage process: an admission of my own environmental behaviour; encouraging reciprocal participation and conversation and enabling personal reflection; representing conversation offering shared vernacular knowledge and enabling others’ engagement with the artwork and behaviour change. Equating the socially engaged artist with the environmental change agent, I synthesised the Model for Change Agents (S. Ballard and Ballard 2005a; Ballard and Associates 2005b) with research on participation in the arts (Matarasso 1997), as a basis for understanding how participation occurs and how change could happen in socially engaged artworks. An analysis of pilot artworks extends this model to identify the conditions for change, which also equate to the aesthetic aspects of the artwork, in a new model for Practice, Participation and Progression. Outcomes I propose key characteristics for socially engaged practice based on analysis of contemporary commentators and the model for practice, participation and progression. The role of the socially engaged artist is identified as comparable to the change agent. Representing conversation, addresses an issue of socially engaged practice to communicate beyond documentation of the event’s provocation and participation. I develop discussion of the discursive site beyond participation itself to a community of common sensibility and pooled knowledge as a demonstration of personal agency that is able to redefine the public ideal and challenge dominant culture. Re-presenting conversation is a means of sharing knowledge, stimulating change and expanding community. Contributing to environmental behaviour research my art practice reveals our ability to abstract behaviour, identifies our main areas of concern within lifestyle, our motivations for making change and the importance of the preservation of personal agency. I also comment on de Certeau, identifying the problems with individual resistance through the everyday, exploring mini-rupture events signaling change and proposing a reversal of the aesthetic of absence to an aesthetic of presence creating a new narrative that utilises personal agency.

During the past three years, substantial parts of Sweden have experienced a decrease in the groundwater levels, whereas some geographical areas were more affected than others. Requests from the government, counties and municipalities have been sent out to the citizens, to attract attention, increase awareness and decrease the use of drinking water. The communication strategies have looked different in the municipalities depending on their water situation, prerequisites and resources. This study aims at explaining how five municipalities in Jönköping county communicate with their citizens regarding water resources and use of drinking water. The five participating municipalities are; Jönköping, Mullsjö, Habo, Värnamo and Eksjö. Jönköping county is one of the counties that were affected by the low groundwater levels, if so to varying degrees, which is the reason the study focuses on Jönköping county. Therefore, the purpose of this thesis is to examine how municipalities communicate in relation to intervention strategies, to create a behavioural change regarding the use of drinking water among citizens. Intervention strategies were analysed in the study to compare the municipalities’ communication work and have been used as an analytical tool during the process. Intervention strategies can be separated into antecedent strategies and consequence strategies to change behaviour. The antecedent strategies consist of commitment, information, goal setting and modelling, and consequence strategies consist of feedback, rewards and prompts. A combination of multiple strategies has been proven to create a more extensive impact, and behavioural change can, in that way, easier be accomplished. A total number of seven interviews were performed for collection of data. Two communication managers from Värnamo and Eksjö municipality participated, and five Water and Sewer Manager from Jönköping, Mullsjö, Habo, Värnamo and Eksjö municipality. An important factor that has been taken in consideration is that the municipalities take their water from different sources and in that way are affected in various extensions of the low groundwater levels. In that way, the municipalities have communicated the question of water differently. The result of the study shows that ongoing communication work regarding the use of drinking water is done, mostly by spreading information. Two municipalities use multiple strategies in their spreading of communication. The result also shows that there is no underlying communication work regarding a decrease in the use of drinking water. Instead, it has been demonstrated that the communicative work takes place when a crisis occurs.

O comportamento do usuário afeta o impacto ambiental gerado durante a fase de uso das edificações e de produtos em geral. O Design para o Comportamento Sustentável (DCS) é uma abordagem que visa tornar o comportamento do usuário mais sustentável através do design do produto. Apesar de estar sendo estudada principalmente nas duas últimas décadas, poucos estudos examinam a eficácia dessa abordagem e a aplicam em edificações escolares. A aplicação de estratégias de DCS em edificações escolares pode trazer benefícios, uma vez que as crianças têm influência no ambiente em que estão inseridas e no comportamento dos adultos ao seu redor. O objetivo deste estudo é propor e avaliar uma solução desenvolvida a partir de estratégias de DCS para criar um ambiente escolar que torne o comportamento do usuário mais sustentável. Primeiramente, os comportamentos que afetam o impacto ambiental nas edificações escolares foram identificados. Após, um kit de adesivos para sanitários (EcoSticker) foi proposto e implementado em duas escolas. O consumo de recursos (energia, papel higiênico, papel toalha e sabão) antes e após a intervenção foi medido. Posteriormente, entrevistas, questionários e um workshop foram realizados para entender melhor os dados de consumo coletados e a percepção dos usuários sobre o kit. O consumo de energia diminuiu nas duas escolas, demonstrando que o EcoSticker pode alterar positivamente o comportamento do usuário. A partir deste trabalho foram obtidos os potenciais benefícios e limitações da aplicação de estratégias de DCS em edificações escolares. / The user behaviour affects the environmental impact generated during the usage phase of buildings and products in general. Design for Sustainable Behaviour (DfSB) is an approach that focus on influence users to behave more sustainably through the product design. Although it has received attention particularly in the last two decades, few studies examined the effectiveness of such approach and apply it on school buildings. The application of DfSB strategies in school buildings can bring some benefits, once children have influence on their environment and on how adults behave. The goal of this study is to propose and test an artefact developed according to the DfSB strategies to create a school environment that leads to a more sustainable behaviour. First, behaviours on school buildings that affect the environmental impact were identified. Then, a toolkit for washrooms (EcoSticker) was proposed and implemented in two schools. The resources consumption (energy, toilet paper, paper towel and soap) prior and after the intervention was measured. Afterwards, interviews, questionnaires and a workshop were carried out to further understand the consumption data collected and users’ perception of the toolkit. The consumption of energy have decreased in both schools, demonstrating that the EcoSticker toolkit can change user behaviour positively. At the end, the potential benefits and constrains in applying DfSB strategies on school buildings were discussed.

Introduction: Medication adherence is vital to ensuring optimal patient outcomes, particularly amongst older adults prescribed polypharmacy. However, complex interventions aimed at improving adherence have shown only limited effectiveness. To maximise effectiveness, the Medical Research Council (MRC) supports the use of both evidence and theory in developing interventions. Feasibility and pilot testing is then recommended to optimise interventions in advance of definitive trials. The aim of this research was to develop a novel complex intervention (using evidence and theory) to improve adherence in older adults (prescribed polypharmacy) and to test the feasibility of delivering this in community pharmacies. Methods: The presented research models the MRC complex intervention framework and focuses on development and feasibility testing phases. Firstly, a systematic review was conducted to address an identified evidence gap in relation to theory-based adherence interventions previously delivered to older adults prescribed polypharmacy. Qualitative research was then conducted to explore older patients’ adherence behaviour and identify determinants (barriers, facilitators) to target for change. Using the Theoretical Domains Framework (TDF) as a lens, key domains were selected for targeting and mapped to behaviour change techniques (BCTs) using established methods. These BCTs formed the basis of a complex intervention that was delivered to older patients by community pharmacists (CPs) as part of a small-scale feasibility study. In addition to exploring older patients’ adherence behaviours, further research focused on CPs’ clinical behaviour in relation to providing medication adherence support (MAS). The qualitative TDF-based methods used in the patient study were extended and a mixed methods (qualitative, quantitative) approach was used to identify determinants influencing CPs’ behaviour. Key target domains were identified and mapped to BCTs that could be directed at CPs (e.g. in a training package) to improve future implementation of the patient intervention. Results: The systematic review found that adherence interventions delivered to older patients prescribed polypharmacy were rarely based on theory, supporting the need for further research. The qualitative research conducted with older patients identified eight key domains (e.g. ‘Beliefs about consequences’, Memory, attention and decision process’) that could be targeted and these domains were mapped to 11 BCTs (e.g. ‘Prompts/cues’, ‘Self-monitoring’) which formed the basis of a complex intervention. The feasibility study demonstrated that the intervention was highly acceptable to both patients and CPs but some modifications were suggested. It also highlighted the need for additional research that focuses on CPs’ behaviour (i.e. MAS provision). Findings from the mixed methods study on CPs’ behaviour led to the identification of seven key domains that could be targeted for change (e.g. ‘Skills’, ‘Motivation and goals’). Eighteen BCTs were then selected for inclusion in a training package (e.g. ‘Demonstration of the behaviour’) or for delivery alongside the patient intervention in future research (e.g. ‘Rewards/incentives’) to improve implementation. Discussion/Conclusion: The MRC framework served as a useful guide for developing a complex intervention to improve adherence in older patients prescribed polypharmacy. This systematic theory-based approach that involved explicitly linking theoretical domains to intervention components (BCTs) will aid future replication and understanding of how the intervention aims to bring about behaviour change. Aside from targeting patients’ adherence behaviours, this research emphasised the importance of exploring the behaviours of intervention providers (i.e. CPs) to enhance implementation. Future research will involve pilot testing a refined version of the patient intervention and CP training package to establish if a definitive trial of effectiveness (e.g. randomised controlled trial) is warranted.

Background: Many nursing home residents are at risk of developing a pressure ulcer, which is an area of localised damage to the skin and/or underlying tissue due to immobility, increasing age and co-morbidities. Whilst guidelines for the prevention of pressure ulcers exist, their implementation can be sub-optimal. Care bundles are a set of research-informed practices used to facilitate the implementation of evidence into practice and incorporating psychological theory within their development may enhance their effectiveness. I aimed to co-design and assess the feasibility of implementing a theory and research-informed pressure ulcer prevention care bundle intervention in a nursing home setting. Method: This thesis comprised four separate studies as part of an overall mixed methods research design. Firstly, I conducted a systematic review and meta-analysis to determine the effects of care bundles per se on patient outcomes. I then conducted theory-informed qualitative, semi-structured interviews with nursing home care staff and NHS community-based nurses to explore the context of, and the barriers and facilitators to, pressure ulcer prevention in nursing homes. Next I co-designed a pressure ulcer prevention care bundle with 13 healthcare workers during a four hour workshop and supplemental email consultation. Using the Nominal Group Technique, we reached a consensus about the content of the care bundle. Following the steps of the Behaviour Change Wheel, I finalised the care bundle intervention. The final study involved a before-after study design where one nursing home implemented the care bundle intervention. I collected and analysed quantitative and qualitative data to gain a more holistic understanding of the feasibility issues related to the implementation. Findings: Findings from the systematic review suggested that care bundles may reduce the risk of negative outcomes in patients. These findings were based on very low quality evidence and the original study authors rarely reported adherence to the care bundle interventions. The theoretical understanding of the complexities in the prevention of pressure ulcers in nursing homes suggested there were four barriers and six facilitators, which my final care bundle intervention addressed. The co-designed care bundle intervention comprised three elements: support surfaces, skin inspection, repositioning; alongside three intervention functions and seven behaviour change techniques. In the final feasibility study, during the baseline period, there were 462 resident bed days and 5 new pressure ulcers recorded and in the intervention phase there were 1,181 resident bed days and no new pressure ulcers. The care bundle intervention appeared to be acceptable to the nursing home care staff and we have identified specific issues relating to the feasibility of implementing the care bundle intervention. Conclusions: The current research evidence-base for care bundles is poor. However, it was possible to co-design and implement a pressure ulcer prevention care bundle intervention for a nursing home setting. Further feasibility research is necessary before we can assess whether the care bundle intervention is effective in preventing pressure ulcers in nursing homes.

This dissertation explores ways in which “capacity-building” might contribute to processes of social change in complex environments. This exploration emerged as part of a personal journey as a capacity-building practitioner to help make sense out of my prior work experience. In my experience, I learned first-hand how many of the “capacity” challenges that my colleagues and I were trying to address in different organizations were complex, “messy” and uncertain. At the same time, many of the capacity-building tools and methodological processes I commonly used assumed a world that was predictable, neat and controllable. These assumptions led to many occasions in which capacity-building processes and methods did not make sense in specific situations, or did not generate expected significant changes. I saw my PhD as a way of addressing many unanswered questions and developing capacity-building methodology that would be relevant to the complex realities in which I worked. At the Institute of Development Studies (IDS), I became much more aware not only of the complexity of my prior capacity-building work in development, but also of its apolitical nature. I was well aware of the contested nature of social change, both from my prior studies and my previous life and work experiences. However, after nine years working as a capacity-building process designer and facilitator for a large American Non-governmental Organization (NGO), I had come to use methodology without considering whether it might even be compatible with concepts of social change. I mostly assumed methodology to be neutral and apolitical, but did not see this as a problem. In my PhD process, I was fortunate to see first-hand how methodology that practitioners assume to be apolitical actually lacks a theory capable of explaining change, and thereby may reproduce the status quo. This is a strong political position indeed. My research starts from the assumption that the way people and organizations change in relation to economic, social and environmental concerns is complex and contested. Complex, in that multiple actors and factors—many of them unknowable—combine to affect how social change actually emerges in real life. Contested, in that power relations enable and constrain the fields of possibility for positive change for all people, and thereby generate winners and losers in the process. Indeed, the contested nature of social change is one of its primary sources of complexity. Methodologically, I conducted two action-research processes over 18 months; one with a progressive organization that supports social movements in Perú, and the other with a private environmental conservation organization in Ecuador. I used an emergent, learning-based action-research (AR) approach strongly influenced by systemic theories, with a particular focus on Peter Checkland's Soft Systems Thinking (SST). Different methodological principles emerged in each organizational AR process, providing important insights into how capacity-building can support social (and socio-environmental) change processes in complex environments. Whereas SST and AR prominently informed my methodology, Ralph Stacey, Patricia Shaw, and Douglas Griffin's “Complex Responsive Processes” (CRP) was the main theory I used to connect methodological capacity-building intervention to complexity theory. CRP is a theory that explains how complex adaptive systems (CAS) emergently self-organize from local, communicative interaction. Drawing on these different sources and based on my empirical data, my dissertation explores the following themes: – How organizational learning and change occur through the shifting interacting dynamics of conversations and other forms of communicative interaction, and how organizational capacity emerges in these shifting dynamics. – How capacity-building methodology can help surface—via communicative interaction—the complexity of social change that organizations face. Particularly: o How methodology that engages multiple ways of knowing is helpful in accessing doorways to diverse thought, feelings, and identity, and how this diversity plays a key role in influencing the patterns of communicative interaction that emerge. o How the intentional contrasting of multiple, diverse perspectives, and worldviews (i.e.—SST focus) charges conversations with meaning and is capable of shifting patterns and generating learning in communicative interaction. o How two ostensibly oppositional forms of methodology—methodological redundancy and unstructured reflection—enable and constrain how patterns of communicative interaction emerge and support learning, when diversity is also present. – How all communicative interaction enacts power relationships that generate dynamics of inclusion and exclusion, and how these dynamics affect the patterns of communicative interaction—i.e. learning and change—that emerge. These methodological findings lead to some interesting implications for how CB is conceived and practiced. If capacity as learning emerges in complex environments via shifts communicative interaction, then a core purpose of CB becomes strengthening the ability of organizational participants—“within” an organization and in relation to key “system” stakeholders—to actively relate and interact with each other in organic (i.e. uncontrived) ways. This active relating is situational and as such implies looking for opportunities to “add” systemic methodological support to real-life situations and experiences. My research has contributed new knowledge by helping explain how systemic capacity-building methodology can support processes of social change in complex environments. Systems thinking is often used anecdotally in capacity-building, without making explicit connections between theory and practice. Complexity theory, when referenced at all in capacity-building literature, is limited to claims about the need to act differently in a complex world. My research has made the following important contributions: 1) Provides empirical cases that connect systemic capacity-building methodology to Complex Responsive Processes theory in a plausible manner, and thus, make these connections more explicit. 2) Develops plausible connections between concepts of extended epistemologies (as a source of diversity) and complexity theory 3) Demonstrates the relative importance of critical reflection alongside the use of more-structured methods to generate organizational capacity 4) Offers—as a conversation starter—an alternative interactive communication understanding of capacity development, which asks critical questions of much dominant CD theory and practice. I believe that the findings and learning from this research can help generate critical, non-linear approaches to capacity-building methodology that serve the needs of complex, contested social change in a more meaningful manner.

<p>Cambodia is one of the poorest countries in Asia and the mortality and morbidity due to lack of improved water supply sources are high. Improvement in this area could better the situation for many Cambodians and as a consequence better the situation for the state of Cambodia.</p><p>The purpose of this thesis is to depict how water issues are being handled in Cambodia. This is done from an anthropological point of view and as a result the focus is on the interviewees of this study. Issues that will be of interest are water consumption and management behaviour, and their explanations. Thoughts and knowledge on water treatments, water safety and how to prevent water related health issues will also be of interest. Other important aspects are sanitation, garbage and the work of non-governmental organizations and the Royal Government of Cambodia. The field work was carried out though interviews and observations in three main areas, urban Phnom Penh, Khsach Kandal and Angk Snuol.</p><p>The result focuses on risk behaviour and behaviour change and shows that there is a lack of knowledge among the people I talked to when it comes to water related health risks. There is a big mistrust in the quality of the water and most people regard boiling a necessity before drinking the water. However, storage is generally the big problem as well as lack of information on how, where and why water gets contaminated.</p><p>Another problem that emerged is that there is a lack of financial commitment from the Royal Government of Cambodia and much work is done by NGOs which might be the reason for conflicting and confusing messages towards the public.</p> / <p>Kambodja är ett av Asiens fattigaste länder och bristen på tjänliga vattenkällor gör att skade- och dödstalen är höga. Framsteg på detta område skulle förbättra situationen för många kambodjaner och i förlängningen förbättra situationen för Kambodja.</p><p>Syfte med studien är att beskriva hur problem kring vattenkonsumtion hanteras i Kambodja. Studien har en antropologisk utgångspunkt vilket betyder att fokus ligger på informanterna och deras berättelser. Frågor som var av intresse vara vattenkonsumtion och vattenhanteringsbeteende samt förklarningar kring dessa. Tankar och kunskap kring vattenrening, vattensäkerhet och hur man förebygger vattenrelaterade hälsoproblem är också av intresse för studien. Ytterligare viktiga faktorer är hygien- och avfallsfrågor, samt arbetet som hjälporganisationer och Kambodjas regering utför. Fältstudien utfördes genom intervjuer och observationer i tre områden: Phnom Penh, Khsach Kandal and Angk Snuol.</p><p>Resultatet av studien fokuserar på riskbeteende och beteendeförändring och visar att det finns kunskapsbrister när det gäller vattenrelaterade hälsorisker bland mina informanter. Det finns ett stort misstroende när det gäller vattenkvaliteten och det flesta ser kokning som ett måste innan de kan dricka vattnet. Generellt sett är dock vattenförvaring ett större problem tillsammans med en brist i hur, var och varför vatten blir förorenat.</p><p>Ett annat vattenrelaterat problem är brist på ekonomiskt åtagande från den kambodjanska regeringens sida. Mycket av arbetet utförs av olika hjälporganisationer vilket kan vara anledning till den ibland motsägelsefulla och förvirrande information som ges till allmänheten.</p>

Bakgrund: Vi lever idag i ett informationssamhälle där vi ständigt matas med ny kunskap och olika valmöjligheter. Ett område som har fått ökad plats på massmedias agenda på senare tid är hälsa och livsstil och dagligen exponeras vi människor av budskap över hur vi kan förbättra vår hälsa och ändra våra levnadsvanor. Syfte: Syftet med vår studie var att undersöka om en utvald grupp kvinnor mellan 17-65 år blir påverkade av massmedias hälsorapportering och de hälsobudskap de möter. Vi syftade även till att undersöka hur denna eventuella påverkan yttrar sig samt klargöra vilka eventuella skillnader det finns i påverkan mellan olika åldrar. Metod: För att få svar på våra frågor genomförde vi en kvalitativ studie med samtalsintervjuer som datainsamlingsmetod. Vi intervjuade 6 kvinnor i åldern 17-65 för att ta reda på deras upplevelser och tankar kring problemområdet. Slutsats: Resultatet av undersökningen visade att vår utvalda grupp kvinnor blir påverkade av massmedias hälsorapportering. Resultatet visade även att åldern har betydelse när det gäller hur och i vilken grad respondenterna blir påverkade av hälsobudskapen. Undersökningen visade att yngre kvinnor blir mer och lättare påverkade och denna påverkan har givit uttryck i bland annat ändrade mat- och motionsvanor. / Background: We are today living in an information society where we constantly are confronted with new knowledge and different options. An area that has got an increased place in the mass media agenda is health and lifestyle and we are daily exposed by messages about how we can improve our health and change our living habits. Aim: The aim with this study was to examine how a group of women between the ages 17-65 are being influenced by mass media health reports and the health messages they meet. A second aim was to examine how this conceivable influence appears in these women’s lives and elucidate which conceivable differences there are in influence between different ages. Method: We used a qualitative method to answer our questions. The study was based on interviews with 6 women between the ages 17-65 with hope to learn about their experiences and thoughts about the subject area. Conclusion: The result of our study showed that the group of women gets influenced by mass media health reports. The result also showed that age has an impact when it comes to how and how much the respondents are being influenced by the health messages. Our study showed that younger persons become more and easier influenced and this influence shows for example in a change of exercise- and eating habits.

<p>Bakgrund: Vi lever idag i ett informationssamhälle där vi ständigt matas med ny kunskap och olika valmöjligheter. Ett område som har fått ökad plats på massmedias agenda på senare tid är hälsa och livsstil och dagligen exponeras vi människor av budskap över hur vi kan förbättra vår hälsa och ändra våra levnadsvanor.</p><p>Syfte: Syftet med vår studie var att undersöka om en utvald grupp kvinnor mellan 17-65 år blir påverkade av massmedias hälsorapportering och de hälsobudskap de möter. Vi syftade även till att undersöka hur denna eventuella påverkan yttrar sig samt klargöra vilka eventuella skillnader det finns i påverkan mellan olika åldrar.</p><p>Metod: För att få svar på våra frågor genomförde vi en kvalitativ studie med samtalsintervjuer som datainsamlingsmetod. Vi intervjuade 6 kvinnor i åldern 17-65 för att ta reda på deras upplevelser och tankar kring problemområdet.</p><p>Slutsats: Resultatet av undersökningen visade att vår utvalda grupp kvinnor blir påverkade av massmedias hälsorapportering. Resultatet visade även att åldern har betydelse när det gäller hur och i vilken grad respondenterna blir påverkade av hälsobudskapen. Undersökningen visade att yngre kvinnor blir mer och lättare påverkade och denna påverkan har givit uttryck i bland annat ändrade mat- och motionsvanor.</p> / <p>Background: We are today living in an information society where we constantly are confronted with new knowledge and different options. An area that has got an increased place in the mass media agenda is health and lifestyle and we are daily exposed by messages about how we can improve our health and change our living habits.</p><p>Aim: The aim with this study was to examine how a group of women between the ages 17-65 are being influenced by mass media health reports and the health messages they meet. A second aim was to examine how this conceivable influence appears in these women’s lives and elucidate which conceivable differences there are in influence between different ages.</p><p>Method: We used a qualitative method to answer our questions. The study was based on interviews with 6 women between the ages 17-65 with hope to learn about their experiences and thoughts about the subject area.</p><p>Conclusion: The result of our study showed that the group of women gets influenced by mass media health reports. The result also showed that age has an impact when it comes to how and how much the respondents are being influenced by the health messages. Our study showed that younger persons become more and easier influenced and this influence shows for example in a change of exercise- and eating habits.</p>

Cambodia is one of the poorest countries in Asia and the mortality and morbidity due to lack of improved water supply sources are high. Improvement in this area could better the situation for many Cambodians and as a consequence better the situation for the state of Cambodia. The purpose of this thesis is to depict how water issues are being handled in Cambodia. This is done from an anthropological point of view and as a result the focus is on the interviewees of this study. Issues that will be of interest are water consumption and management behaviour, and their explanations. Thoughts and knowledge on water treatments, water safety and how to prevent water related health issues will also be of interest. Other important aspects are sanitation, garbage and the work of non-governmental organizations and the Royal Government of Cambodia. The field work was carried out though interviews and observations in three main areas, urban Phnom Penh, Khsach Kandal and Angk Snuol. The result focuses on risk behaviour and behaviour change and shows that there is a lack of knowledge among the people I talked to when it comes to water related health risks. There is a big mistrust in the quality of the water and most people regard boiling a necessity before drinking the water. However, storage is generally the big problem as well as lack of information on how, where and why water gets contaminated. Another problem that emerged is that there is a lack of financial commitment from the Royal Government of Cambodia and much work is done by NGOs which might be the reason for conflicting and confusing messages towards the public. / Kambodja är ett av Asiens fattigaste länder och bristen på tjänliga vattenkällor gör att skade- och dödstalen är höga. Framsteg på detta område skulle förbättra situationen för många kambodjaner och i förlängningen förbättra situationen för Kambodja. Syfte med studien är att beskriva hur problem kring vattenkonsumtion hanteras i Kambodja. Studien har en antropologisk utgångspunkt vilket betyder att fokus ligger på informanterna och deras berättelser. Frågor som var av intresse vara vattenkonsumtion och vattenhanteringsbeteende samt förklarningar kring dessa. Tankar och kunskap kring vattenrening, vattensäkerhet och hur man förebygger vattenrelaterade hälsoproblem är också av intresse för studien. Ytterligare viktiga faktorer är hygien- och avfallsfrågor, samt arbetet som hjälporganisationer och Kambodjas regering utför. Fältstudien utfördes genom intervjuer och observationer i tre områden: Phnom Penh, Khsach Kandal and Angk Snuol. Resultatet av studien fokuserar på riskbeteende och beteendeförändring och visar att det finns kunskapsbrister när det gäller vattenrelaterade hälsorisker bland mina informanter. Det finns ett stort misstroende när det gäller vattenkvaliteten och det flesta ser kokning som ett måste innan de kan dricka vattnet. Generellt sett är dock vattenförvaring ett större problem tillsammans med en brist i hur, var och varför vatten blir förorenat. Ett annat vattenrelaterat problem är brist på ekonomiskt åtagande från den kambodjanska regeringens sida. Mycket av arbetet utförs av olika hjälporganisationer vilket kan vara anledning till den ibland motsägelsefulla och förvirrande information som ges till allmänheten.