How to Organize the Field Practicum
Organization of the practicum should begin prior to the workshop. The practicum should take place in two communities. (See below.) Leaders in each of these communities should be contacted to explain the purpose of the study and to gain their approval. The behaviors for analysis can be chosen by workshop organizers prior to the workshop or during the workshop with the input of the participants.

If behaviors for analysis are chosen during the workshop, workshop participants should be told that they will be choosing one behavior to explore during the practicum. This behavior will be explored using the two ways to do Barrier Analysis: through focus groups and through individual interviews. Then ask participants to use local Knowledge, Practice and Coverage (KPC) or regional Demographic and Health Survey (DHS) data to brainstorm a list of behaviors that they would like to explore during barrier analysis. Try to pick one behavior that is fairly uncommon (e.g., <20% practicing the behavior) and a second that is more common (e.g., 40-60% practicing the behavior). From the list generated by the participants, choose a behavior that is appropriate. Decide who the target group for this behavior will be—whose behavior should be changed.

Recruiting Interviewees
Local health workers (e.g., Community Health Workers [CHWs]) in two project communities should be contacted and asked to recruit people in the target group (e.g., mothers of children under two) to participate in the Barrier Analysis practicum. Interviewees should be told that their participation is voluntary but greatly encouraged. These potential interviewees should also be told that they will be interviewed about a health care topic and that a snack will be provided. It is not necessary or desirable to tell them the behavior that will be discussed prior to the practicum. The health worker should try to get commitments from people who plan to attend and keep a list of their names. Those who give a commitment to attend should be told to meet at a designated place where half the participants can be individually interviewed and half can participate in focus groups (preferably indoors such as in a school building).

In the first community, where focus groups will be used, the health worker will need to recruit a total of 12 people who are doing the behavior that you are studying (“Doers”) and 12 people who are not (“Non-Doers”). In the second community, where individual interviews will be done, the health worker should recruit at least 60 people for the individual interviews who are in the target group (e.g., mothers of children under 24 months). For the behavior, “use of Oral Rehydration Solution (ORS)" with mothers of children under 24 months of age as the target group, the breakdown would look like this:

• Community A: Recruit 12 mothers of children under 24 months of age who used ORS the last time their child had diarrhea, and 12 mothers of children under 24 months who did not use ORS the last time their child had diarrhea. The person doing the recruiting will need to use screening questions in order to do this. For example, “Has your child ever had diarrhea? [If so,] what did you do for the child when he/she had diarrhea? Did you use ORS? Have you ever used ORS?” If you cannot find 12 people, you could use different selection criteria, such as those who have ever tried ORS and those who have never tried it. These mothers will participate in the two focus groups.
  
• Community B: Use the same process as in Community A, but recruit at least 30 mothers of children under 24 months who used ORS the last time their child had diarrhea, and at least 30 mothers of children under 24 months who did not use ORS the last time their child had diarrhea. These mothers will be interviewed individually.

It may be necessary to go out and recruit additional participants on the morning of the field practicum in order to assure that adequate numbers of participants are available for each method (8-14 people for each focus group and 60 people or more for each set of individual interviews).

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