Description

HANDWASHBRIDGE serves as a bridging variable between two approaches to collecting information about the household's place for handwashing. Initially, respondents were asked, "Where do you usually wash your hands?" The responses distinguished between in the dwelling/yard/plot and somewhere else.

Beginning with Phase VI of the DHS, respondents were asked, "Please show me where members of your household most often wash their hands." The responses indicate whether the interviewer observed a place for handwashing, and if not, the reason no place for handwashing was observed.

HANDWASHBRIDGE combines information from the first approach of asking about the handwashing place (in HANDWASHPL (HV230)) and the second approach of observing the handwashing place (in HANDWASHPLOBS (HV230A)).

The information in HANDWASHBRIDGE is taken from the household record, linked to the record of the woman respondent. This information applies to household residents, not temporary visitors, so researchers may wish to exclude visitors using the RESIDENT variable (with visitors coded "2").

See Comparability for more information.

Comparability

HANDWASHBRIDGE is a bridging variable created by IPUMS-DHS. Due to shifts across phases in data collection methods, users should be attentive to the survey text for each sample of interest. Researchers should also note the text in the Description and Comparability tabs of the source variables HANDWASHPL (HV230) and HANDWASHPLOBS (HV230A).

Comparability - Standard DHS

HANDWASHBRIDGE is not included in any phase of the standard DHS questionnaire, but it is derived from two standard questions from Phase IV and Phase VI. See HANDWASHPL (HV230) and HANDWASHPLOBS (HV230A) for further discussion of how the standard DHS questionnaire collected data on places for handwashing.

Universe