Adapting and Validating the G-NORM (Gender Norms Scale) in Nepal: An Examination of How Gender Norms Are Associated with Agency and Reproductive Health Outcomes

Authors

Erica Sedlander, Department of Social and Behavioral Sciences, University of California, San Francisco, San Francisco, CA, USA.
Minakshi Dahal, Center for Research on Environment, Health & Population Activities, Kathmandu, Nepal.
Jeffrey Bart Bingenheimer, Department of Prevention and Community Health, George Washington University, Washington, DC, USA.
Mahesh C. Puri, Center for Research on Environment, Health & Population Activities, Kathmandu, Nepal.
Rajiv N. Rimal, Department of Health, Behavior and Society, Bloomberg School of Public Health, Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, MD, USA.
Rachel Granovsky, Department of Social and Behavioral Sciences, University of California, San Francisco, San Francisco, CA, USA.
Nadia G. Diamond-Smith, Department of Epidemiology and Biostatistics, University of California, San Francisco, San Francisco, CA, USA.

Document Type

Journal Article

Publication Date

1-30-2023

Journal

Studies in family planning

DOI

10.1111/sifp.12231

Abstract

Research calls for the sexual and reproductive rights field to prioritize gender norms to ensure that women can act on their reproductive rights. However, there is a gap in accepted measures. We addressed this by including important theoretical components of gender norms: differentiating between descriptive and injunctive norms and adding a referent group. Our team originally developed and validated the G-NORM, a gender norms scale, in India. In this paper, we describe how we subsequently adapted and validated it in Nepal. We administered items to women of reproductive age, conducted exploratory and confirmatory factor analysis, and examined associations between the subscales and reproductive health outcomes. Like the original G-NORM, our factor analyses showed that descriptive norms and injunctive norms comprise two distinct scales which fit the data well and had Cronbach alphas of 0.92 and 0.89. More equitable descriptive gender norms were associated with higher decision-making scores, increased odds of intending to use family planning, disagreeing that it is wrong to use family planning, and older ideal age at marriage. Injunctive gender norms were only associated with disagreeing that it is wrong to use family planning. Findings offer an improved measure of gender norms in Nepal and provide evidence that gender norms are critical for agency and reproductive health outcomes.

APA Citation

Sedlander, Erica; Dahal, Minakshi; Bingenheimer, Jeffrey Bart; Puri, Mahesh C.; Rimal, Rajiv N.; Granovsky, Rachel; and Diamond-Smith, Nadia G., "Adapting and Validating the G-NORM (Gender Norms Scale) in Nepal: An Examination of How Gender Norms Are Associated with Agency and Reproductive Health Outcomes" (2023). GW Authored Works. Paper 2222.
https://hsrc.himmelfarb.gwu.edu/gwhpubs/2222

Department

Prevention and Community Health