TY - JOUR
T1 - Coping strategies for individual and household-level water insecurity
T2 - A systematic review
AU - Venkataramanan, Vidya
AU - Collins, Shalean M.
AU - Clark, Kathleen A.
AU - Yeam, Julia
AU - Nowakowski, Virginia G.
AU - Young, Sera L.
N1 - Funding Information:
In addition to listed co‐authors from the Biocultural Perspectives on Water Insecurity course (Spring 2018), we would also like to acknowledge the following students' contributions to screening and coding included studies: Bella Barber, Sydney Chen, Emily Chewa, Mathew Chong, Michelle Fu, Denise Lopez, Patrick Mbullo Owour, Serena Salgado, Anna Scarborough, and Amanda Tam. We are also grateful to Dr. Amber Wutich and to members of the Young Research Group for their feedback on draft manuscripts. Icons in our graphical abstract were made by Freepik from www.flaticon.com . This project was funded by the Competitive Research Grants to Develop Innovative Methods and Metrics for Agriculture and Nutrition Actions (IMMANA). IMMANA is funded with UK Aid from the UK Government. This material is also based upon work supported by the National Science Foundation under Grant No. 1848683. Any opinions, findings, and conclusions or recommendations expressed in this material are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the views of the National Science Foundation. This work was also supported by Leslie and Mac McQuown through the McCormick School of Engineering and Applied Science, and by the Resnick Family Social Impact Fund, Institute for Sustainability and Energy, Northwestern University. Sera Young was supported by an Andrew Carnegie Foundation Fellowship.
Funding Information:
In addition to listed co-authors from the Biocultural Perspectives on Water Insecurity course (Spring 2018), we would also like to acknowledge the following students' contributions to screening and coding included studies: Bella Barber, Sydney Chen, Emily Chewa, Mathew Chong, Michelle Fu, Denise Lopez, Patrick Mbullo Owour, Serena Salgado, Anna Scarborough, and Amanda Tam. We are also grateful to Dr. Amber Wutich and to members of the Young Research Group for their feedback on draft manuscripts. Icons in our graphical abstract were made by Freepik from www.flaticon.com. This project was funded by the Competitive Research Grants to Develop Innovative Methods and Metrics for Agriculture and Nutrition Actions (IMMANA). IMMANA is funded with UK Aid from the UK Government. This material is also based upon work supported by the National Science Foundation under Grant No. 1848683. Any opinions, findings, and conclusions or recommendations expressed in this material are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the views of the National Science Foundation. This work was also supported by Leslie and Mac McQuown through the McCormick School of Engineering and Applied Science, and by the Resnick Family Social Impact Fund, Institute for Sustainability and Energy, Northwestern University. Sera Young was supported by an Andrew Carnegie Foundation Fellowship.
Publisher Copyright:
© 2020 Wiley Periodicals LLC.
PY - 2020/9/1
Y1 - 2020/9/1
N2 - Household water insecurity is a complex socioecological challenge with a range of consequences for health and wellbeing. Understanding individual and household-level coping strategies, i.e., responses or adaptations to manage water insecurity, can shape future research and development practice. We therefore (a) systematically describe the characteristics and contexts of 173 studies documenting coping strategies and (b) classify the types of strategies within four domains of water insecurity: access, use, quality, and reliability. Most studies were from Sub-Saharan Africa or South Asia. In the domain of access, the most common coping strategies were building infrastructure, and storing, purchasing, and sharing water. For use, changing food consumption, agricultural practices, and hygiene were most frequently mentioned. For quality, water treatment was the most common strategy. To ensure water reliability, people most frequently reported changing routines or relocating their homes altogether. Our review provides a useful framework to understand coping strategies, but more research is needed to address three gaps in particular. First, we recommend more representative exploration of the range of coping strategies, particularly in middle- and high-income countries. Second, the links between coping with water insecurity and a range of other nutritional, social, financial, and health outcomes need to be better understood to address overall household wellbeing. Third, we recommend the development of a metric to quantify individual and household-level water insecurity-related coping strategies. This line of inquiry can enable practitioners to design and implement context-specific interventions that leverage preexisting strategies to improve experiences of water insecurity. This article is categorized under: Human Water > Water Governance Engineering Water > Planning Water.
AB - Household water insecurity is a complex socioecological challenge with a range of consequences for health and wellbeing. Understanding individual and household-level coping strategies, i.e., responses or adaptations to manage water insecurity, can shape future research and development practice. We therefore (a) systematically describe the characteristics and contexts of 173 studies documenting coping strategies and (b) classify the types of strategies within four domains of water insecurity: access, use, quality, and reliability. Most studies were from Sub-Saharan Africa or South Asia. In the domain of access, the most common coping strategies were building infrastructure, and storing, purchasing, and sharing water. For use, changing food consumption, agricultural practices, and hygiene were most frequently mentioned. For quality, water treatment was the most common strategy. To ensure water reliability, people most frequently reported changing routines or relocating their homes altogether. Our review provides a useful framework to understand coping strategies, but more research is needed to address three gaps in particular. First, we recommend more representative exploration of the range of coping strategies, particularly in middle- and high-income countries. Second, the links between coping with water insecurity and a range of other nutritional, social, financial, and health outcomes need to be better understood to address overall household wellbeing. Third, we recommend the development of a metric to quantify individual and household-level water insecurity-related coping strategies. This line of inquiry can enable practitioners to design and implement context-specific interventions that leverage preexisting strategies to improve experiences of water insecurity. This article is categorized under: Human Water > Water Governance Engineering Water > Planning Water.
KW - access
KW - coping
KW - household
KW - systematic review
KW - water security
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85089910689&partnerID=8YFLogxK
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/citedby.url?scp=85089910689&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1002/wat2.1477
DO - 10.1002/wat2.1477
M3 - Review article
AN - SCOPUS:85089910689
SN - 2049-1948
VL - 7
JO - Wiley Interdisciplinary Reviews: Water
JF - Wiley Interdisciplinary Reviews: Water
IS - 5
M1 - e1477
ER -