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DECISIONAL BALANCE SCALE

The decisional-balance scale is a 14-item measure with 4 domains including cons for IUD, pros for contraception, pros for IUD, and cons for contraception. Items for pros were benefits of using contraception or IUD such as prevention of unwanted pregnancy, and cons included disadvantages such as ‘hassles’ associated with contraceptive methods, personal beliefs, costs, etc.

Categories

Geographies Tested: Vietnam

Populations Included: Male

Age Range: Adults

Items:

ITEMS:

Cons for IUD

  1. IUD may cause abdominal pain
  2. IUD may cause bleeding
  3. IUD may cause problems like dizziness and headache
  4. IUD may cause PID (pelvic inflammatory disease)

Pros for contraception

  1. Contraception helps you not to deal with results of unwanted pregnancy
  2. Your wife would not have to worry about becoming pregnant if using contraception
  3. Contraception helps to limit size of the family
  4. Contraception helps you to become more responsible for decisions of having children

Pros for IUD

  1. IUD may effective in prevention of pregnancy
  2. IUD may work for long time
  3. IUD use does not require the advanced preparation before having sexual intercourse

Cons for contraception

  1. Contraception makes sexual intercourse difficult to do in a family setting
  2. Some contraceptive methods are costly
  3. Contraception is again your beliefs

Response Options: Respondents were asked to rate each item on a five-point Likert-type scale ranging from 'not important' (1) to 'very important'.

Scoring Procedures

Raw scores for pros and cons were calculated. In the current paper these were converted to standardized score, and then to T scores.

Original Citation

Ha, B. T. T., Jayasuriya, R., & Owen, N. (2003). Male involvement in family planning in rural Vietnam: an application of the Transtheoretical Model. Health education research, 18(2), 171-180.


Psychometric Score

Ease of Use Score

Scoring breakdown

Formative Research

Qualitative Research

Existing Literature/Theoretical Framework

Field Expert Input

Cognitive Interviews / Pilot Testing

Reliability

Internal

Test-retest

Interrater

Validity

Content

Face

Criterion (gold-standard)

Construct

KEY

Ease of Use

Readability

Scoring Clarity

Length

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