The Abortion Provider Stigma Survey uses 13 items to assess abortion providers’ perceptions of stigma and its impact on providers’ professional and personal lives. It is a self-reported survey. It borrows some items from the King's Stigma Survey. The tool captures three subscales: disclosure management, resistance and resilience, and discrimination.
High Psychometric Score
Please consider your experiences as someone who works in abortion services. Indicate how often you have felt or experienced the following:
Disclosure Management
1. People's reactions to my being an abortion worker make me keep to myself*
2. I feel marginalized by other health workers because of my decision to work in abortion care*
3. I feel like if I tell people about my work they will only see me as an abortion worker*
4. I worry about telling people I work in abortion care*
5. It bothers me if people in my neighborhood know that I work in abortion care*
6. I avoid telling people what I do for a living*
7. I am afraid that if I tell people I work in abortion care I could put myself or my loved ones at risk for violence*
Resilience and Resistance
8. I am proud that I work in abortion care
9. I feel connected to others who do this work
10. By providing abortions I am making a positive contribution to society
11. I find it important to share with people that I work in abortion care
Discrimination
12. Newspapers/television take a balanced view about abortion care
13. I feel that patients use me as an emotional punching bag*
Response Options:
All of the time – 1
Often – 2
Sometimes – 3
Rarely – 4
Never – 5
* Items are reverse scored
GEOGRAPHIES TESTED:
POPULATIONS INCLUDED:
Female
AGE RANGE:
Adults
The mean of the total and three subscales is calculated.
PRIMARY CITATION:
Martin, L. A., Debbink, M., Hassinger, J., Youatt, E., Eagen-Torkko, M., & Harris, L. H. (2014). Measuring stigma among abortion providers: assessing the Abortion Provider Stigma Survey instrument. Women & Health, 54(7), 641-661. https://doi.org/10.1080/03630242.2014.919981
Qualitative Research
Existing Literature/Theoretical Framework
Field Expert Input
Cognitive Interviews / Pilot Testing
Internal
Test-Retest
Interrater
Content
Face
Criterion (gold-standard)
Construct
Total Score: 7.00/8 Points (HIGH)
For more details, see Scoring Methodology