Assessing married men and women's understanding of questions from a gender and power norms scale in Siaya, Kenya Open Access
Smith, Danielle Nicole (2011)
Abstract
Background: In 2009, CARE International conducted the Social
Influences on Family
Planning survey in Siaya, Kenya. One component of the survey was a
gender and power
norms scale that was a novel combination of two previously
validated scales. There is a
body of research to suggest that gender and power norms impact
reproductive health and
therefore increased desire to quantitatively measure gender norms
for programmatic
purposes.
Objective: The purpose of this study was 1) to evaluate
understanding of questions from
the CARE gender norms scale to improve the scale for future use and
2) to explore the
perceived gender and power norms in Siaya, Kenya.
Methods: Eighteen cognitive interviews (8 with men, 10 with women)
were conducted to
evaluate understanding of the questions from the scale. Nine focus
group discussions (3
with men, 3 with women, and 3 with elders) were conducted to
understand the gender
and power norms present in Siaya.
Results: Interpretations of questions from the scale could be
classified into 5 categories:
understood as intended (5 questions); misunderstanding of a single
word or phrase (3);
misunderstanding due to conditionality of the question (1);
misunderstanding due to
wording/translation (1); and conceptual misunderstanding (4).
Conceptual
misunderstandings of questions differed for men and women, and this
seemed to be due
to underlying gender norms. Questions were difficult for
participants to understand if
they did not fit the expected gender roles in the community. For
example, women easily
understood the question "My partner has more say than I do about
important decisions
that affect us", because gender norms encourage male
decision-making power. This
question was difficult for male participants, however, because
imagining their partners
(women) with more decision-making power defied community
norms.
Discussion: While the CARE gender norms scale was well understood
overall, data
suggest several revisions to improve question understanding. In
particular, community
gender norms influenced how people interpreted questions from the
scale and resulted in
misunderstanding of several questions. Examining participants'
interpretations of
questions and considering the impact of community norms on question
interpretation
revealed ways to improve the gender and power norms scale for use
in Siaya, Kenya.
Table of Contents
Table of Contents
Chapter 1. Introduction - 1
Chapter 2. Comprehensive Review of the Literature - 7
Chapter 3. Project Contents
Methods - 27
Results - 35
Chapter 4. Discussion, Recommendations, and Conclusion
Discussion - 58
Recommendations - 64
Conclusion - 65
References - 68
Appendix I: CARE Gender and Power Norms Scale - 73
Appendix II: CARE Approval Letter - 75
About this Master's Thesis
School | |
---|---|
Department | |
Degree | |
Submission | |
Language |
|
Research Field | |
Keyword | |
Committee Chair / Thesis Advisor | |
Committee Members | |
Partnering Agencies |
Primary PDF
Thumbnail | Title | Date Uploaded | Actions |
---|---|---|---|
Assessing married men and women's understanding of questions from a gender and power norms scale in Siaya, Kenya () | 2018-08-28 14:31:35 -0400 |
|
Supplemental Files
Thumbnail | Title | Date Uploaded | Actions |
---|