The Stigmatizing Attitudes, Beliefs, and Actions Scale (SABAS) - Full Scale is an 18-item measure to assess stigmatizing attitudes and beliefs about abortion in Ghana and Zambia.
Geographies Tested: Ghana,Zambia
Populations Included: Female, Male
Age Range: Adolescents, Adults
1. Woman is committing a sin
2. Woman will make abortion a habit
3. Health never as good after abortion
4. Woman is bad mother
5. Encourage others to get abortions
6. Woman cannot be trusted
7. Woman brings shame to family
8. Woman brings shame to community
9. Respondent would tease a woman
10. Respondent would try to disgrace woman
11. May not be able to bear children
12. Respondent would point fingers
13. Woman should be treated the same
14. Prohibited from religious services
15. Respondent would continue to be friends
16. Woman makes others ill or sick
17 . Woman isolated for one month
18. Men get disease from women
Response Options
5-point Likert scale ranging from “strongly agree” to “strongly disagree.”
Scores were calculated by summing all 18 items for the total score and then the appropriate items for each of the three subscales (i.e., the three factors). Prior to computing scores, 16 of the 18 SABAS items were reverse coded so that a higher score would reflect more stigmatizing attitudes, beliefs, and actions.
Shellenberg, K. M., Hessini, L., & Levandowski, B. A. (2014). Developing a scale to measure stigmatizing attitudes and beliefs about women who have abortions: results from Ghana and Zambia. Women & health, 54(7), 599-616. https://doi.org/10.1080/03630242.2014.919982
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