Developing scales for measuring gender behaviors in reproductive health in rural China.
This article introduces two scales for measuring the gender-specific burden of family planning (FP) and reproductive health (RH) in rural China, following the implementation of a client-oriented approach to FP/RH. One scale (GHRHS-SC) measures FP/RH clients to examine whether gender influences FP/RH behaviors. The other scale (GHRHS-SP) measures service provider interactions with service clients to gauge whether FP/RH institutions are fulfilling the client-oriented mandate. The content of scales was developed through inductive analysis conducted on data generated from focus groups and in-depth interviews. The validation of the scales was confirmed with item analysis, exploratory factor analysis, and confirmatory factor analysis. To generate data for validation purposes, we employed a stratified cluster sampling method for a sample of service providers and a stratified multistage method for a sample of service clients. The analytical results indicate that the scales possess good internal consistency, reliability, and overall validity. The construct validity for the GHRHS-SP needs some improvement. Both the GHRHS-SC and GHRHS-SP are valid instruments for measuring gender differences in FP/RH behavior, though further refinements would be beneficial.
Yang
Xueyan
X
Institute for Population and Development Studies, Xi'an Jiaotong University, Xi'an, PR China.
Li
Shuzhuo
S
Wu
Zheng
Z
Schimmele
Christoph M
CM
D002681:China; D016000:Cluster Analysis; D003657:Decision Making; D005163:Factor Analysis, Statistical; D005193:Family Planning Services; D005260:Female; D017144:Focus Groups; D005783:Gender Identity; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D011640:Public Policy; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D018456:Reproductive Medicine; D012106:Research; D012424:Rural Population / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires