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健康教育项目通常被看作传递知识、改善健康的工具，但一项新研究发现，它也可能悄悄改变一个村庄里“谁和谁有联系”。研究者在洪都拉斯110个偏远村庄开展了为期22个月的母婴健康教育，并让不同村庄参与家庭的比例各不相同：有的只有5%至30%，有的达到50%至100%，还有的完全没有参与者作为对照。结果显示，参与者少时，他们往往与未参与的旧联系人疏远，村庄联系变弱；参与者多时，人们之间形成了更多联系。这种变化还扩展到友谊和金钱往来，并大体持续了约三年。文章按“发现—研究设计—结果对比—解释—适用边界”展开，阅读时可留意 depended on、but、because 等词如何表达条件与对比，以及 may 如何限定研究者的解释。

正文

When health workers teach people in a village how to care for mothers and babies, the main goal is better health. A new study suggests that such a program can also change something people cannot easily see: who they talk to, trust and depend on.

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当卫生工作者在村子里教人们如何照顾母亲和婴儿时，主要目标是改善健康。一项新研究表明，这样的项目还可能改变一些人们不容易看到的东西：他们与谁交谈、信任谁、依靠谁。

The study was published in the journal Nature on October 14 and described by Yale University on October 22. Researchers from Yale and Temple University studied 110 villages in a remote part of Honduras, with a total of 8,331 people. From 2016 to 2018, a 22-month education program shared information about the health of mothers, newborn babies and young children.

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这项研究于10月14日发表在《自然》杂志上，耶鲁大学在10月22日对其进行了介绍。来自耶鲁大学和天普大学的研究者研究了洪都拉斯偏远地区的110个村庄，总共涉及8,331人。2016年至2018年，一个为期22个月的教育项目传播了有关母亲、新生儿和幼儿健康的信息。

The team used an unusual design. They did not give the program to every home in every village. In some villages, only 5 to 30 percent of households took part. In others, 50 to 100 percent did. In a third group, no one took part, so the researchers could compare. Before and after the program, they asked villagers whom they went to for health advice, who their friends were and whom they turned to about money.

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研究团队采用了一种不寻常的设计。他们并没有把项目提供给每个村庄的每户人家。在一些村庄，只有5%至30%的家庭参与；在另一些村庄，参与比例达到50%至100%；在第三组村庄，没有人参与，以便研究者进行比较。在项目开始前和结束后，他们询问村民向谁寻求健康建议、朋友是谁，以及在金钱问题上向谁求助。

The results depended on how many people joined. In villages where only a small share took part, people in the program often stopped going to old contacts who were not in it. Those outside the program were left with fewer connections, and the village network became less connected overall. But where most households took part, participants formed more ties, and the whole community became better linked.

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结果取决于参与的人数。在只有一小部分人参与的村庄，项目参与者常常不再去找那些没有参与项目的旧联系人。项目之外的人联系变少了，整个村庄网络的联系总体上也变弱了。但在大多数家庭都参与的地方，参与者建立了更多联系，整个社区的联系变得更紧密。

Laura Forastiere, one of the lead authors, compared a village to a soccer team. If only a few players learn a new way of playing, they stop passing the ball to teammates who do not know it. When most of the team learns it, everyone passes more.

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主要作者之一劳拉·福拉斯蒂埃把村庄比作一支足球队。如果只有少数球员学会一种新打法，他们就会不再把球传给不懂这种打法的队友。当大多数队员都学会后，每个人都会传得更多。

The changes did not stay inside health. Friendships and money ties also shifted. Marios Papamichalis, the other lead author, said it “may be a matter of trust“: once people trust someone about health, that trust may spread to other parts of life. In general, the new patterns were still there about three years after the program ended.

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这些变化并没有只停留在健康方面。友谊和金钱往来也发生了变化。另一位主要作者马里奥斯·帕帕米哈利斯说，这“可能是信任的问题”：一旦人们在健康问题上信任某人，这种信任可能会扩展到生活的其他方面。总体而言，在项目结束约三年后，这些新的模式仍然存在。

Programs that use social influence to change behavior are common around the world, from farming to school bullying. The researchers say such programs may be quietly changing who is connected to whom. Because this study covers one isolated region, the same pattern may not appear everywhere, but it gives planners a reason to think about how many people a program reaches.

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利用社会影响来改变行为的项目在世界各地很常见，从农业到校园霸凌都有。研究者表示，这类项目可能正在悄悄改变谁与谁相连。由于这项研究只涉及一个偏远地区，同样的模式未必在所有地方出现，但它让项目策划者有理由考虑一个项目能覆盖多少人。

新闻来源

• Yale News · Public health programs can ‘rewire’ social networks, Yale study finds (22 Oct 2026)
• Nature · Educational intervention can rewire village social networks (14 Oct 2026)

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