Woman-centered research on access to safe abortion services and implications for behavioral change communication interventions: a cross-sectional study of women in Bihar and Jharkhand, India

Table 6 Respondent's attitudes and perceptions related to access to safe abortion services (N = 1411)

	Cronbach's Alpha	Mean	(SD)
Perceived availability¹ of abortion services	0.32	2.5	(0.92)
Perceived affordability² of abortion services	0.57	2.0	(1.04)
Perceived health risks³ of unsafe abortion	0.56	3.9	(1.03)
Favorable attitude⁴ towards abortion	0.39	2.1	(1.01)
Perceived self-efficacy⁵ with respect to FP and abortion	0.66	3.8	(0.80)
Perceived social support⁶ within family for abortion	0.31	3.6	(0.88)
Perceived social norms⁷ regarding abortion	0.28	2.3	(0.76)

¹Availability is the extent to which the service is found in a pre-defined area. Availability of services includes respondents' opinion on: access to abortion services at facilities close to their village, access at urban private clinics compared to rural health centers, and availability of information on abortion providers.
²Affordability of abortion services includes respondents' perception of the cost of abortion services compared to other health services.
³Perceived health risks includes respondents' understanding of: the severity of postabortion complications due to unsafe abortion, comparative risk to women's health if abortion is done at a late stage of pregnancy, and harmful effects of repeated unsafe abortion.
⁴Attitude towards abortion includes women's perception of terminating unintended pregnancy and experience of feelings of guilt associated with abortion.
⁵Self-efficacy includes respondent's confidence and ability to negotiate with spouse and medical doctors to discuss her own reproductive and contraceptive choices, including number of children, contraceptive methods, birth spacing and abortion issues.
⁶Social support within the family includes women's perception regarding spousal and parental support in accessing abortion, if required.
⁷Social norms are the behavioral standards, which exist in the community for an individual to follow (29). Social norms include perceived community acceptability of abortion.

ISSN: 1471-2458