Evaluating Contraceptive Empowerment Among Women and Girls in Sub‐Saharan Africa: Validation of the Women's and Girls’ Empowerment in Sexual and Reproductive Health (WGE‐SRH) Index Contraceptive Empowerment Subscale

IF 1.9 3区医学 Q2 DEMOGRAPHY

Studies in Family Planning Pub Date : 2025-06-06 DOI:10.1111/sifp.70011

Celia Karp, Shannon N. Wood, Elizabeth Omoluabi, Funmilola M. OlaOlorun, Pierre Z. Akilimali, Simon Peter Sebina Kibira, Fredrick Makumbi, Georges Guiella, Peter Gichangi, Caroline Moreau

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Abstract

This study evaluates the contraceptive empowerment subscale of the Women's and Girls’ Empowerment in Sexual and Reproductive Health (WGE‐SRH) index across seven sub‐Saharan African countries. Using structural equation modeling and logistic regression among population‐based samples of women aged 15–49, we find evidence that the abbreviated eight‐item subscale is a reliable measure of contraceptive empowerment (Cronbach's alpha range: 0.67–0.78), significantly associated with women's involvement in the decision to use contraception. Results show geographic variability, with the highest overall contraceptive empowerment in Kenya (mean = 4.26, range: 1–5) and lowest in Uganda (mean = 3.67), reflecting diverse fertility trends, contraceptive norms, and gendered power dynamics. The subscale's two‐dimensional structure—distinguishing existence and exercise of choice—proves effective, with existence of choice being a stronger correlate of involvement in contraceptive use decisions than exercise in most settings. Despite some challenges, such as variable factor loadings, the subscale shows acceptable internal consistency and construct validity. This research underscores the need for multidimensional measures of reproductive empowerment to capture this nuanced process.

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评估撒哈拉以南非洲妇女和女孩的避孕赋权：妇女和女孩在性健康和生殖健康方面的赋权（WGE - SRH）指数避孕赋权子量表的验证

本研究评估了七个撒哈拉以南非洲国家的妇女和女童性健康和生殖健康赋权（WGE - SRH）指数的避孕赋权子量表。使用结构方程模型和逻辑回归对15-49岁的女性群体样本进行分析，我们发现证据表明，缩短的8项子量表是避孕授权的可靠衡量标准（Cronbach's alpha范围：0.67-0.78），与女性参与使用避孕措施的决定显著相关。结果显示出地域差异，肯尼亚的总体避孕赋权最高（平均值= 4.26，范围：1-5），乌干达最低（平均值= 3.67），反映了不同的生育趋势、避孕规范和性别权力动态。子量表的二维结构——区分选择的存在和行使——被证明是有效的，在大多数情况下，选择的存在与参与避孕使用决策的相关性比行使更强。尽管存在一些挑战，如可变因子负载，子量表显示出可接受的内部一致性和结构效度。这项研究强调了需要多维的生殖赋权措施来捕捉这一微妙的过程。

本文章由计算机程序翻译，如有差异，请以英文原文为准。

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来源期刊

Studies in Family Planning Multiple-

CiteScore

4.00

自引率

9.50%

发文量

期刊介绍： Studies in Family Planning publishes public health, social science, and biomedical research concerning sexual and reproductive health, fertility, and family planning, with a primary focus on developing countries. Each issue contains original research articles, reports, a commentary, book reviews, and a data section with findings for individual countries from the Demographic and Health Surveys.