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Safer Conception Methods and Counseling: Psychometric Evaluation of New Measures of Attitudes and Beliefs Among HIV Clients and Providers

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Abstract

With data from 400 HIV clients with fertility intentions and 57 HIV providers in Uganda, we evaluated the psychometrics of new client and provider scales measuring constructs related to safer conception methods (SCM) and safer conception counselling (SCC). Several forms of validity (i.e., content, face, and construct validity) were examined using standard methods including exploratory and confirmatory factor analysis. Internal consistency was established using Cronbach’s alpha correlation coefficient. The final scales consisted of measures of attitudes towards use of SCM and delivery of SCC, including measures of self-efficacy and motivation to use SCM, and perceived community stigma towards childbearing. Most client and all provider measures had moderate to high internal consistency (alphas 0.60–0.94), most had convergent validity (associations with other SCM or SCC-related measures), and client measures had divergent validity (poor associations with depression). These findings establish preliminary psychometric properties of these scales and should facilitate future studies of SCM and SCC.

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Acknowledgments

This research was funded by the Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health & Human Development Grant 5R01HD072633-03 (PI: Wagner).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. RAND Corporation, 1776 Main Street, Santa Monica, CA, 90407, USA

    Mahlet Atakilt Woldetsadik & Glenn J. Wagner

  2. Pardee RAND Graduate School, 1776 Main Street, Santa Monica, CA, USA

    Mahlet Atakilt Woldetsadik

  3. Health Services and Outcomes Research, Children’s Mercy Hospitals and Clinics, Kansas, USA

    Kathy Goggin & Vincent S. Staggs

  4. Schools of Medicine and Pharmacy, University of Missouri – Kansas City, Kansas, USA

    Kathy Goggin

  5. School of Medicine, University of Missouri – Kansas City, Kansas, USA

    Vincent S. Staggs

  6. Department of Disease Control and Environmental Health, Makerere University School of Public Health, Kampala, Uganda

    Rhoda K. Wanyenze

  7. Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, Mulago Hospital, Makerere University College of Health Sciences, Kampala, Uganda

    Jolly Beyeza-Kashesya

  8. Los Angeles Center for Culture and Health, University of California, Los Angeles, USA

    Deborah Mindry

  9. Department of Family Medicine, University of Kansas Medical Center, Kansas City, USA

    Sarah Finocchario-Kessler

  10. The AIDS Support Organization, Kampala, Uganda

    Sarah Khanakwa

Authors
  1. Mahlet Atakilt Woldetsadik
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  2. Kathy Goggin
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  3. Vincent S. Staggs
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  4. Rhoda K. Wanyenze
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  7. Sarah Finocchario-Kessler
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  9. Glenn J. Wagner
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Correspondence to Mahlet Atakilt Woldetsadik.

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Woldetsadik, M.A., Goggin, K., Staggs, V.S. et al. Safer Conception Methods and Counseling: Psychometric Evaluation of New Measures of Attitudes and Beliefs Among HIV Clients and Providers. AIDS Behav 20, 1370–1381 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10461-015-1199-3

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10461-015-1199-3

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