Exploring water-consuming personal care and hygiene practices in the bathroom environment and user intentions for improving effective water consumption

Abstract

When influencing behaviours towards sustainable directions, the main focus is on understanding diverse factors that shape individuals’ behaviours, habits and routines of everyday practices, while recognizing the tendencies of individuals to alter these behaviours is often neglected. This paper presents an exploratory graduate research that investigates individuals’ diverse behaviours which are responsible for intensive water use during personal care and hygiene practices in the bathroom, and that also reveals users’ intentions to adopt responsible behaviours. With this purpose, a diary study and interview sessions were facilitated by incorporating various generative tools and techniques. The findings from the study provide guidance for designers and design researchers by revealing behaviour types along with their attitudinal and contextual determinants, user intentions, and design strategies that would inspire and support the exploration of diverse design solutions aiming to influence behaviours for the effective use of water.