Assessing married men and women's understanding of questions from a gender and power norms scale in Siaya, Kenya Público

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

Rights statement

• Permission granted by the author to include this thesis or dissertation in this repository. All rights reserved by the author. Please contact the author for information regarding the reproduction and use of this thesis or dissertation.

School	Rollins School of Public Health
Department	Hubert Department of Global Health
Degree	MPH
Submission	Master's Thesis
Language	English
Research Field	Health Sciences, Public Health Gender Studies
Palabra Clave	cognitive interviewing measuring gender norms Kenya
Committee Chair / Thesis Advisor	Stephenson, Robert, Emory University
Committee Members	Rochat, Roger, Emory University
Partnering Agencies	Emory University schools, faculty or affiliated programs International Non-governmental organization (e.g., CARE, Inc.)

Última modificación

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	Press to Select an action Download

Supplemental Files

Thumbnail	Title	Date Uploaded	Actions