Volume 23 - Article 11 | Pages 293-334

Measuring pregnancy planning: An assessment of the London Measure of Unplanned Pregnancy among urban, south Indian women

By Corinne Rocca, Suneeta Krishnan, Geraldine Barrett, Mark Wilson


Date received:	18 Sep 2009
Date published:	06 Aug 2010
Word count:	7380
Keywords:	fertility intentions, India, Item Response Modeling, Item Response Theory, measurement, pregnancy intention status, pregnancy intentions, pregnancy planning
DOI:	10.4054/DemRes.2010.23.11

Abstract

We evaluated the psychometric properties of the London Measure of Unplanned Pregnancy among Indian women using classical methods and Item Response Modeling. The scale exhibited good internal consistency and internal structure, with overall scores correlating well with each item’s response categories. Items performed similarly for pregnant and non-pregnant women, and scores decreased with increasing parity, providing evidence for validity. Analyses detected small disadvantages, including low endorsement of middle response categories and some evidence of differential item functioning by parity. We conclude that the LMUP is suitable for use in India and recommend steps for improving scale performance for this cultural context.

Author's Affiliation

Corinne Rocca - University of California, San Francisco, United States of America [Email]
Suneeta Krishnan - RTI International, United States of America [Email]
Geraldine Barrett - Brunel University, United Kingdom [Email]
Mark Wilson - University of California at Berkeley, United States of America [Email]