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Measuring cognitive and psychosocial accessibility to modern contraception: A comprehensive framework

Moussa Zan, ISSP
Clémentine Rossier, University of Geneva, Institute of demography and Socioeconomics

For a long time, access to contraception was understood mostly from a geographical and financial perspective. However, there is more and more evidence that many women are blocked cognitive and psychosocial barriers to modern contraceptives. Current definitions often use the concept of attitudes or beliefs, but cover a large array of topics (information, gender inequality, sexual morality, rumors, etc.). To propose a comprehensive frame of cognitive and psychosocial accessibility of contraception, we proceeded by a critical analysis of the literature on attitudes towards family planning. The main dimensions, which emerged, were contraceptive knowledge, fear toward side effects, approval of contraception, and contraceptive agency. Using essentially existing questions to capture those dimensions (from PMA and DHS), we conceived a questionnaire module made of 15 questions to measure cognitive and psychosocial access to contraceptives. We tested this module at the occasion of the PMA2020 survey in Burkina Faso wave 6 in 2019. The validation analysis on 45 items led us to remove four items. Two dimensions have been validated with a Cronbach’s alpha of 0.65 and 71, Loevinger’s H of 0.45 and 0.38, and Ferguson’s delta above 0.90. Two dimensions, computed as count and proportion of items, do not need validation.

Keywords: Family planning and contraception, Sexual and Reproductive Health and Rights

See extended abstract.

  Presented in Session P8.