The SABAS and CUSS
| M/Med/SD/range (score 1–5) | Agree (score 3–5) n (%) | Disagree (score 1–2) n (%) | ||
| Items: SABAS | ||||
| 1 | The health of a woman who has an abortion is never as good as it was before the abortion (n=74). | 2.3/2/1.2/4 | 26 (35) | 48 (65) |
| 2 | A woman who has had an abortion might encourage other women to get abortions (n=74). | 2.4/2/1.3/4 | 26 (35) | 48 (65) |
| 3 | Once a woman has one abortion, she will make it a habit (n=74). | 2.2/2/1.2/4 | 22 (30) | 52 (70) |
| 4 | A woman who has an abortion is committing a sin (n=74). | 2.2/2/1.4/4 | 20 (27) | 54 (73) |
| 5 | A woman who has an abortion brings shame to her family (n=74). | 2/2/1.1/4 | 16 (22) | 58 (78) |
| 6 | A woman who has had an abortion brings shame to her community (n=74). | 1.9/2/1.1/4 | 13 (18) | 61 (82) |
| 7 | A woman who has had an abortion cannot be trusted (n=74). | 1.7/1/1/4 | 12 (16) | 62 (84) |
| 8 | A woman who has had an abortion is a bad mother (n=73). | 1.6/1/.9/4 | 7 (10) | 66 (90) |
| 9 | A woman who has an abortion should be treated the same as everyone else* (n=74). | 1.2/1/.5/3 | 68 (92) | 6 (8) |
| 10 | A man should not marry a woman who has had an abortion because she may not be able to bear children (n=74). | 1.5/1/.8/4 | 5 (7) | 69 (93) |
| 11 | I would tease a woman who has had an abortion so that she will be ashamed of her decision (n=74). | 1.4/1/.7/4 | 4 (5) | 70 (95) |
| 12 | I would try to disgrace a woman in my community if I found out she would had an abortion (n=74). | 1.6/1/.9/4 | 4 (5) | 70 (95) |
| 13 | I would stop being friends with someone if I found out that she had had an abortion (n=73). | 1.4/1/.7/4 | 3 (4) | 70 (96) |
| 14 | A woman who has had an abortion should be prohibited from going to religious services (n=74). | 1.2/1/.5/2 | 2 (3) | 72 (97) |
| 15 | I would point my fingers at a woman who had an abortion so that other people would know what she has done (n=74). | 1.3/1/.5/2 | 1 (1) | 73 (99) |
| 16 | If a man has sex with a woman who has had an abortion, he will become infected with a disease (n=74). | 1.4/1/.8/4 | 7 (9) | 67 (91) |
| 17 | A woman who has an abortion can make other people fall ill or get sick (n=74). | 1.4/1/.8/4 | 6 (8) | 68 (92) |
| 18 | A woman who has an abortion should be isolated from other people in the community for at least 1 month after having an abortion (n=74). | 1.3/1/.8/4 | 4 (5) | 70 (95) |
| Items: CUSS | ||||
| 19 | A young girl who uses a contraceptive method will encourage other girls to lead a promiscuous lifestyle (n=44). | 2.4/2/1.3/4 | 17 (39) | 27 (61) |
| 20 | A married woman is more deserving of a contraceptive method than an unmarried woman (n=44). | 2.4/2/1.5/4 | 16 (36) | 28 (64) |
| 21 | A young girl who uses a contraceptive method is promiscuous (sexually immoral, likes to have many sexual relationships) (n=44). | 2.2/2/1.2/4 | 14 (32) | 30 (68) |
| 22 | A young girl cannot decide for herself whether to use a contraceptive method (n=44). | 2.4/2/1.3/4 | 14 (32) | 30 (68) |
| 23 | A young girl who carries condoms is likely to have many sexual partners (n=44). | 2.1/2/1.3/4 | 12 (27) | 32 (73) |
| 24 | A young girl who uses contraceptives will have problems when she decides to get pregnant (n=44). | 1.9/2/.9/3 | 9 (20) | 35 (80) |
| 25 | A young girl should not insist on using a condom; the man should decide whether to use a condom or not. (n=44) | 1.4/1/.9/4 | 3 (7) | 41 (93) |
Stigmatising attitudes towards women associated with abortion and contraceptive use among PAC providers (n=74; n=44) in a low-resource setting in Kenya.
*This item was reversed coded so that ‘agree’=1–2 and ‘disagree’=3–5; accordingly, ‘agree’ in this item was considered a non-stigmatising attitude.
CUSS, Contraceptive Use Stigma Scale; PAC, postabortion care; SABAS, Stigmatising Attitudes, Beliefs and Actions Scale.