Quality of Contraceptive Counseling (QCC) Scale

Development, adaptation, and validation of a scale to measure client experiences with contraceptive counseling across three countries (QCC-Mexico, QCC-Ethiopia, QCC-India) and a shortened version for cross-country use (the QCC-10).

Principal Investigators:  Kelsey Holt (USA); Ewenat Gebrehanna (Ethiopia); Bella Uttekar (India); Ximena Quintero & Icela Zavala (Mexico)

Table 1. Comparison of Quality of Contraceptive Counseling (QCC) scale items across countries

Table 2. Final Quality of Contraceptive Counseling Scale Validated for use in Ethiopia (QCC-Ethiopia)

Table 3. Final Quality of Contraceptive Counseling Validated for Use in India (QCC-India)

 

Table 1. Comparison of Quality of Contraceptive Counseling (QCC) scale items across countries

 

Item abbreviation

Item1

Item same across Mexico, India, & Ethiopia? (Y/N)

Description of differences between countries

Retained in final scale after testing? (Y/N)

Ethiopia

India

Information exchange subscale

1

opinion

During the contraception consultation, I was able to give my opinion about what I needed.

 

Y

N/A

Y

Y

2

personal

The provider asked me questions in order to provide counseling that fit my personal experience.

N

This item was added to the QCC Scale for Ethiopia and India based on formative research suggesting this is an important element of quality related to Information Exchange; this item was not fielded in Mexico. In India the wording was modified for clarity, based on cognitive interviews, to read “The provider asked me personal questions …”.

Y

Y

3

info

I received complete information about my options for contraceptive methods.

 

Y

N/A

Y

Y

4

explain

The provider knew how to explain contraception clearly.

 

Y

N/A

Y

N- removed due to low factor loadings in CFA

5

opportunity

I had the opportunity to participate in the selection of a method.

Y

N/A

Y

Y

6

sti_info

I received information about how to protect myself from sexually transmitted infections.

Y

N/A

Y

Y

7

method_fail

I received information about what to do if a method fails (e.g., broken condom, forget a pill, forgot injection appointment, feel an IUD is poorly placed)

 

Y

N/A

Y

Y

8

body_react

I could understand how my body might react to using contraception.

 

Y

N/A

Y

Y

9

method_use

I could understand how to use the method(s) we talked about during the consultation.

 

Y

N/A

Y

Y

10

method_react

The provider explained to me what to do if I had a reaction to a method (e.g., allergies, nausea, pains, menstrual changes).

Y

N/A

Y

Y

11

method_stop

I received information about what to do if I wanted to stop using a method.

 

Y

N/A

Y

Y

Interpersonal relationship subscale

12

info_private

I felt the information I shared with the provider was going to stay between us.

 

Y

N/A

Y

Y

13

enough_time

The provider gave me the time I needed to consider the contraceptive options we discussed.

 

Y

N/A

Y

Y

14

prov_friendly

The provider was friendly during the contraception consultation.

 

 

Y

N/A

Y

N- removed due to low factor loadings in CFA

15

prov_knows

I felt the health care provider had sufficient knowledge about contraceptive methods.

 

Y

N/A

Y

N- removed due to low factor loadings in CFA

16

prov_health

The provider showed interest in my health while we talked about contraception.

 

Y

N/A

Y

Y

17

prov_opinion

The provider was interested in my opinions.

Y

N/A

Y

Y

18

express_self

I felt encouraged to ask questions and express my concerns.

 

N

This item was added to the QCC Scale for Ethiopia and India based on formative research suggesting this is an important element of quality related to Interpersonal Relationships; this item was not fielded in Mexico

Y

Y

19

prov_listens

I felt listened to by the provider.

Y

N/A

Y

Y

20

no_interrupt

The provider made efforts to ensure there were no interruptions during our session.

N

This item was added to the QCC Scale for Ethiopia and India based on formative research suggesting this is an important element of quality related to Interpersonal Relationships; this item was not fielded in Mexico

Y

Y

Disrespect and abuse subscale

21

prov_insist

The health care provider pressured me to use the method they wanted me to use.

 

Y

N/A

Y

Y

22

prov_judge

I felt the provider treated me poorly because they tend to judge people. (Clothing, age, living condition, marital status, etc.)

 

Y

N/A

Y

Y

23

scold_age (or scold_use, in India)

I felt scolded because of my age.

 

N

In India, this item was replaced with “I felt scolded because of the way I was using contraception” based on formative research suggesting the importance of social norms around what contraceptives are acceptable to be used depending on the number of children someone has and the greater salience of this potential dimension of discrimination compared to age discrimination

Y

Y

24

prov_sexlife

The provider made me feel uncomfortable because of my sex life (e.g., when I started having sex, my sexual preferences, the number of partners I have, the number of children I have).

 

Y

N/A

Y

Y

25

prov_touched

The provider touched me or looked at me in a way that made me feel uncomfortable.

 

Y

N/A

Y

Y

26

scold_marital

I felt scolded because of my marital status.

 

N

This item was added to the QCC Scale for Ethiopia and India based on formative research suggesting marital status as an important dimension of potential discrimination; this item was not fielded in Mexico

Y

Y

1 While English versions are presented in this Table, note that items were fielded in Ethiopia in Amharic and in India in Gujarati. Also note that all items from the QCC Scale validated in Mexico were included in testing in Ethiopia and India and thus are reflected in this table.

All items were adapted or translated from the original QCC-Mexico scale (Holt K, Zavala I, Quintero X, Hessler D, Langer A. Development and Validation of the Client‐Reported Quality of Contraceptive Counseling Scale to Measure Quality and Fulfillment of Rights in Family Planning Programs. Studies in Family Planning. 2019 Jun;50(2):137-58; https://doi.org/10.1111/sifp.12092), Copyright 2019, All Rights Reserved.

 

Table 2. Final Quality of Contraceptive Counseling Scale Validated for use in Ethiopia (QCC-Ethiopia)

Please think about the interaction you just had with a health care provider about contraceptive options. According to this specific experience, answer the following series of questions.

Strongly disagree

Disagree

Agree

Strongly agree

Subscale: Information Exchange

 

 

 

 

[opinion]: During the contraception consultation, I was able to give my opinion about what I needed.

Amharic: የቤተሰብ እቅድ ምክክር ወቅት ምን እንደምፈልግ አስተያየቴን መስጠት ችዬ ነበር

1

2

3

4

[personal]: The provider asked me questions in order to provide counseling that fit my personal experience.

Amharic: አገልግሎት ሰጭዉ የእኔን ልምድ ያገናዘበ የምክር አገልግሎት ለመስጠት እንዲመቸዉ ስለ እራሴ አንዳንድ ጥያቄዎችን ጠይቆኛል

1

2

3

4

[info]: I received complete information about my options for contraceptive methods.

Amharic: ለእኔ የሚሆኑ የቤተሰብ እቅድ አማራጮችን በተመለከተ ሙሉ መረጃ አግኝቻለሁ

1

2

3

4

[explain]: The provider knew how to explain contraception clearly.

Amharic: አገልግሎት ሰጭዉ ስለቤተሰብ እቅድ በደንብ አብራርቶ ማስረዳት ይችላል

1

2

3

4

[opportunity]: I had the opportunity to participate in the selection of a method.

Amharic: የቤተሰብ እቅድን መምረጥ ዉስጥ እንድሳተፍ እድሉን አግኝቻለሁ

1

2

3

4

[sti_info]: I received information about how to protect myself from sexually transmitted infections

Amharic: እራሴን በግብረስጋ ግንኙነት ከሚተላፍ በሽታ እንዴት መከላከል እንደምችል መረጃ ተሰጥቶኛል

1

2

3

4

[method_fail]: I received information about what to do if a method fails (e.g., broken condom, forget a pill, forgot injection appointment, feel an IUD is poorly placed).

Amharic: የቤተሰብ እቅድን በሚመከረዉ መንገድ ሳልተቀም ብቀር ምን ማድረግ እንዳለብኝ መረጃ ተሰጥቶኛል፡፡ (ኪኒን በሰአቱ ባልዉጥ፣ የመርፌ ቀጠሮ ብረሳ፣ ኮንዶም ቢቀደድ….)

1

2

3

4

[body_react]: I could understand how my body might react to using contraception.

Amharic: በሰዉነቴ ዉስጥ  የቤተሰብ እቅድ መንገዶች ስጠቀም ምን ሊፈጠር እንደሚችል ተረድቻለሁ

1

2

3

4

[method_use]: I could understand how to use the method(s) we talked about during the consultation.

Amharic: በምክክር ወቅት የተነገሩኝ የቤተሰብ እቅድ መንገዶች እንዴት መጠቀም እንዳለብኝ ተረድቻለሁ

1

2

3

4

[method_react]: The provider explained to me what to do if I had a reaction to a method (e.g., allergies, nausea, pains, menstrual changes).

Amharic: በምክክር ወቅት የተነገሩኝ የቤተሰብ እቅድ መንገዶች እንዴት መጠቀም እንዳለብኝ ተረድቻለሁ

 

1

2

3

4

[method_stop]: I received information about what to do if I wanted to stop using a method.

Amharic: የወሰድኩት የቤተሰብ እቅድ ሳይስማማኝ ቢቀር ምን ማድረግ እንዳለብን አገልግሎት ሰጭዉ ነግሮኛል (ለምሳሌ፣ ማቅለሽለሽ፣ አለርጂ፣ ህመም፣ የወር አበባ መብዛት)

 

1

2

3

4

Subscale: Interpersonal Relationship

 

 

 

 

[info_private]: I felt the information I shared with the provider was going to stay between us.

Amharic: ለአገልግሎት ሰጭዉ ያካፈልኩትን የግል መረጃ በእኔ እና በአገልግሌት ሰጭዉ መካከል ብቻ እንደሚቀር ተሰምቶኛል

1

2

3

4

[enough_time]: The provider gave me the time I needed to consider the contraceptive options we discussed.

Amharic: አገልግሎት ሰጭዉ ከተነጋገርናቸዉ የቤተሰብ እቅድ መንገዶች መካከል እንድመርጥ በቂ ጊዜ ሰጥቶኛል

1

2

3

4

[prov_friendly]: The provider was friendly during the contraception consultation.

Amharic: አገልግሎት ሰጭዉ ጥሩ አቅርቦት አሳይቶኛል

1

2

3

4

[prov_knows]: I felt the health care provider had sufficient knowledge about contraceptive methods.

Amharic: አገልግሎት ሰጭዉ ስለ ቤተሰብ እቅድ መንገዶች በቂ እዉቀት አለዉ

1

2

3

4

[prov_health]: The provider showed interest in my health while we talked about contraception.

Amharic: አገልግሎት ሰጭዉ ስለ ቤተሰብ እቅድ መንገዶች ስንነጋገር ስለ ጤንነቴ ለማወቅ ፍልጎት ነበረዉ

1

2

3

4

[prov_opinion]: The provider was interested in my opinions.

Amharic: አገልግሎት ሰጭዉ የእኔን አስተያየት ለማወቅ ፍላጎት ነበረዉ

1

2

3

4

[express_self]: I felt encouraged to ask questions and express my concerns.

Amharic: ጥያቄ እንድጠይቅ እና የሚያሳስቡኝን ጉዳዮች እንዳብራራ ተበረታትቻለሁ

1

2

3

4

[prov_listens]: I felt listened to by the provider.

Amharic: አገልግሎት ሰጭዉ በሚገባእንዳዳመጠኝ ተሰምቶኛል

1

2

3

4

[no_interrupt]: The provider made efforts to ensure there were no interruptions during our session.

Amharic: ሌሎች ሰዎች ከአገልግሌት ሰጭዉ ጋር የነበረኝን ዉይይት እንዳያቋርጡ/ በመሀል እንዳይገቡ አገልግሎት ሰጭዉ ጥረት አድርጓል

1

2

3

4

Subscale: Disrespect & Abuse

Yes

Yes with doubts

No with doubts

No

[prov_insist]: The health care provider pressured me to use the method they wanted me to use.

Amharic: አገልግሎት ሰጭዉ የመረጠልኝን የቤተሰብ እቅድ እንድጠቀም ግፊት አድርጎብኛል

1

2

3

4

[prov_judge]: I felt the provider treated me poorly because they tend to judge people. (Clothing, age, living condition, marital status, etc.).

Amharic: ሁኔታዬን አይተዉ አገልግሎት ሰጭዎቹ በጥሩ ሁኔታ አላስተናገዱኝም  ፡፡ አለባበስ፣ እድሜ፣ የኑሮ ሁኔታ፣ የጋብቻ ሁኔታ….

1

2

3

4

[scold_age]: I felt scolded because of my age.

Amharic: በእድሜዬ ምክንያት በአገልግሎት ሰጭዉ ተጉላቻለሁ

1

2

3

4

[prov_sexlife]: The provider made me feel uncomfortable because of my sex life (e.g., when I started having sex, my sexual preferences, the number of partners I have, the number of children I have).

Amharic: በጋብቻ ሁኔታዬ፣ በልጆች ቁጥር፣ ባሉኝ የወዳጆች ቁጥር ወይም ሌላ ተመሳሳ ህይወቴ ምክንያት  በአገልግሎት ሰጭዉ ተጉላቻለሁ

1

2

3

4

[prov_touched]: The provider touched me or looked at me in a way that made me feel uncomfortable.

Amharic: አገልግሎት ሰጭዉ አስነዋሪ በሆነ መልክ ስለነካኝ/ስላየኝ ደስ የማይል ስሜት ተሰምቶኛል

1

2

3

4

[scold_marital]: I felt scolded because of my marital status.

Amharic: በጋብችዬ ሁኔታ ምክንያት በአገልግሎት ሰጭዉ ተጉላቻለሁ

1

2

3

4

All items were adapted or translated from the original QCC-Mexico scale (Holt K, Zavala I, Quintero X, Hessler D, Langer A. Development and Validation of the Client‐Reported Quality of Contraceptive Counseling Scale to Measure Quality and Fulfillment of Rights in Family Planning Programs. Studies in Family Planning. 2019 Jun;50(2):137-58; https://doi.org/10.1111/sifp.12092), Copyright 2019, All Rights Reserved.

 

Table 3. Final Quality of Contraceptive Counseling Validated for Use in India (QCC-India)

Please think about your most recent interaction with a health care provider about contraceptive options. According to this specific experience, answer the following series of questions.

Strongly disagree

Disagree

Agree

Strongly agree

Subscale: Information Exchange

 

 

 

 

[opinion]: During the contraception consultation, I was able to give my opinion about what I needed.

Gujarati: ગર્ભનિરોધકની પરામર્શ સલાહસૂચન દરમિયાન, મને જે જોઈએ છે તે વિશે હું મારા અભિપ્રાય આપી શકી.

1

2

3

4

[personal]: The provider asked me questions in order to provide counseling that fit my personal experience.

Gujarati: મારા વ્યક્તિગત અનુભવને બંધબેસતી પરામર્શ આપવા માટે કાર્યકર્તાએ મને વ્યક્તિગત પ્રશ્નો પૂછ્યા.

1

2

3

4

[info]: I received complete information about my options for contraceptive methods.

Gujarati: ગર્ભનિરોધક પદ્ધતિઓના મારા વિકલ્પો વિશે મને સંપૂર્ણ માહિતી મળી.

1

2

3

4

[opportunity]: I had the opportunity to participate in the selection of a method.

Gujarati: ગર્ભનિરોધક પદ્ધતિની પસંદગીમાં ભાગ લેવાની મને તક મળી હતી.

1

2

3

4

[sti_info]: I received information about how to protect myself from sexually transmitted infections

Gujarati: જાતીય ચેપથી/ગુપ્તરોગ પોતાને કેવી રીતે સુરક્ષિત રાખવું તે વિશેની માહિતી મને મળી.

1

2

3

4

[method_fail]: I received information about what to do if a method fails (e.g., broken condom, forget a pill, forgot injection appointment, feel an IUD is poorly placed).

Gujarati: જો કોઈ પદ્ધતિ નિષ્ફળ જાય તો શું કરવું તે વિશેની માહિતી મને મળી હતી. (દા.ત. કોન્ડોમ ફાટી જવું, એક ગોળી લેવાનું ભૂલી જવું, ઇન્જેક્શન લેવા જવાનું ભૂલી જવું, IUD ખસી ગઇ છે તેવું અનુભવો)

1

2

3

4

[body_react]: I could understand how my body might react to using contraception.

Gujarati: ગર્ભનિરોધકનો ઉપયોગ કરવાથી મારું શરીર કેવી પ્રતિક્રિયા આપી શકે છે તે હું સમજી શકતી હતી.

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[method_use]: I could understand how to use the method(s) we talked about during the consultation.

Gujarati: પરામર્શ દરમિયાન અમે જે પદ્ધતિ(ઓ) વિશે વાત કરી હતી, તેનો ઉપયોગ કેવી રીતે કરવો તે હું સમજી શકતી હતી.

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[method_react]: The provider explained to me what to do if I had a reaction to a method (e.g., allergies, nausea, pains, menstrual changes).

Gujarati: કાર્યકર્તાએ મને સમજાવ્યું કે જો મને કોઈ પદ્ધતિથી આડઅસર કે રિયેક્શન (દા.ત. એલર્જી, ઉબકા, દુઃખાવો, માસિક સ્રાવમાં ફેરફાર) થાય, તો શું કરવું.

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[method_stop]: I received information about what to do if I wanted to stop using a method.

Gujarati: જો મારે કોઈ પદ્ધતિનો ઉપયોગ કરવાનું બંધ કરવું હોય તો મારે શું કરવું તે વિશેની માહિતી મળી હતી.

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Subscale: Interpersonal Relationship

 

 

 

 

[info_private]: I felt the information I shared with the provider was going to stay between us.

Gujarati: મને લાગે છે કે કાર્યકર્તા સાથે મેં જે માહિતીની આપ-લે કરી છે તે અમારી વચ્ચે રહેવાની છે.

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[enough_time]: The provider gave me the time I needed to consider the contraceptive options we discussed.

Gujarati: જેની અમે ચર્ચા કરી હતી ‍તે ‍‌​ગર્ભનિરોધક વિકલ્પોના ગુણદોષ વિચારવા માટે કાર્યકર્તાએ મને જરૂરી સમય આપ્યો છે.

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[prov_health]: The provider showed interest in my health while we talked about contraception.

Gujarati: જ્યારે અમે ગર્ભનિરોધક વિશે વાત કરતા હતા, ત્યારે કાર્યકર્તાએ મારા સ્વાસ્થ્યમાં રસ દાખવ્યો હતો.

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[prov_opinion]: The provider was interested in my opinions.

Gujarati: કાર્યકર્તાને મારા મંતવ્યો કે પ્રશ્નોમાં રસ હતો.

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[express_self]: I felt encouraged to ask questions and express my concerns.

Gujarati: મારા પ્રશ્નો પૂછવા અને મારી ચિંતા વ્યક્ત કરવા માટે મને પ્રોત્સાહિત કરી હતી એવું મને લાગ્યું‌ હતું

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[prov_listens]: I felt listened to by the provider.

Gujarati: કાર્યકર્તા મને સાંભળતા‍ હોય‌ એવું મને લાગ્યું.

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[no_interrupt]: The provider made efforts to ensure there were no interruptions during our session.

Gujarati: અમારી વાતચીત દરમિયાન કોઈ દખલગીરી ન આવે તે માટે કાર્યકર્તાએ પ્રયત્નો કર્યા હતા.

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Subscale: Disrespect & Abuse

Yes

Yes with doubts

No with doubts

No

[prov_insist]: The health care provider pressured me to use the method they wanted me to use.

Gujarati: આરોગ્ય કાર્યકર્તા આગ્રહ કર્યો કે હું તે પદ્ધતિનો ઉપયોગ કરું, જે તેઓ મારી પાસે ઉપયોગ રાવવા માંગતા હતા.

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[prov_judge]: I felt the provider treated me poorly because they tend to judge people. (Clothing, age, living condition, marital status, etc.).

Gujarati: મને લાગ્યું કે કાર્યકર્તાએ મારી સાથે ખરાબ વર્તન કર્યું છે કારણ કે તેઓ લોકો વિશે મત બાંધે કે માપે છે. (કપડાં, ઊંમર, રહેવાની સ્થિતિ, વૈવાહિક દરજ્જો, વગેરે જોઇને)

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[scold_use]: I felt scolded because of the way I was using contraception.

Gujarati: ગર્ભનિરોધકના ઉપયોગ કરવાની રીતને કારણે મને ઠપકો મળ્યો એવું લાગ્યું..

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[prov_sexlife]: The provider made me feel uncomfortable because of my sex life (e.g., when I started having sex, my sexual preferences, the number of partners I have, the number of children I have).

Gujarati: મારા લૈંગિક જીવનને લીધે કાર્યકર્તાએ મને અજુગતું લાગે તેવો અનુભવકરાવ્યો હતો (દા.ત. જ્યારે મેં સેક્સ કરવાનું શરૂ કર્યું, મારી જાતીય પસંદગીઓ, મારા સાથીદારોની સંખ્યા, મારા બાળકોની સંખ્યા).

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[prov_touched]: The provider touched me or looked at me in a way that made me feel uncomfortable.

Gujarati: કાર્યકર્તાએ મને એવી રીતે સ્પર્શ કર્યો અથવા મારી તરફ એવું જોયું જેથી મે અસ્વસ્થતા અનુભવી.

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[scold_marital]: I felt scolded because of my marital status.

Gujarati: મારા વૈવાહિક દરજ્જાને કારણે મને ઠપકો લાગ્યો.

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All items were adapted or translated from the original QCC-Mexico scale (Holt K, Zavala I, Quintero X, Hessler D, Langer A. Development and Validation of the Client‐Reported Quality of Contraceptive Counseling Scale to Measure Quality and Fulfillment of Rights in Family Planning Programs. Studies in Family Planning. 2019 Jun;50(2):137-58; https://doi.org/10.1111/sifp.12092), Copyright 2019, All Rights Reserved.