Measuring Beliefs and Norms About Violence Against Women in Rural Uganda: A Randomized Controlled Trial

In national studies conducted throughout sub-Saharan Africa, survey data indicate that there is widespread acceptance of intimate partner violence by both men and women (Alio et al., 2011, Mann & Takyi, 2009, Rani et al., 2004, Uthman et al., 2009). For women, the proximate context of gender-unequal norms has important public health impacts. Men who report beliefs consistent with gender-unequal norms are more likely to be perpetrators of sexual violence (Shannon et al., 2012). Women are more likely to be victimized when they and their partners report concordant beliefs about the acceptability of intimate partner violence (Alio et al., 2011). And finally, women who live in areas characterized by gender-unequal norms about intimate partner violence are at greater risk for having their reproductive health compromised (Hung et al., 2012, Tsai & Subramanian, 2012). Accurate measurement of norms about intimate partner violence therefore has important implications for understanding the health risk environment for women.

The Demographic and Health Surveys (DHS), which are nationally representative surveys conducted worldwide, have served as an important source of information on norms about intimate partner violence. However, a cross-country analysis of DHS data showed that minor deviations in survey wording may account for substantial cross-country variation in the extent to which women provide survey responses consistent with acceptance of intimate partner violence (Yount et al., 2011). Furthermore, in-depth interviews conducted among Bangladeshi women suggest that affirmative responses to DHS-style questions may better reflect their perceptions of prevailing norms or their individualized assumptions about contextual details rather than true beliefs about their acceptance of intimate partner violence (Schuler & Islam, 2008, Schuler et al., 2011). Taken together, these lines of inquiry suggest important limitations in the accuracy with which the DHS measure women's attitudes towards intimate partner violence.