The role of self-efficacy in women’s autonomy for health and nutrition decision-making in rural Bangladesh

• Verfasst von: Salinger, Allison [VerfasserIn]
• Verfasst von: Vermes, Ellen [VerfasserIn]
• Verfasst von: Waid, Jillian [VerfasserIn]
• Verfasst von: Wendt, Amanda [VerfasserIn]
• Verfasst von: Dupuis, Sarah J. N. [VerfasserIn]
• Verfasst von: Kalam, Md Abul [VerfasserIn]
• Verfasst von: Kader, Abdul [VerfasserIn]
• Verfasst von: Sinharoy, Sheela S. [VerfasserIn]
• Titel: The role of self-efficacy in women’s autonomy for health and nutrition decision-making in rural Bangladesh
• Verf.angabe: Allison P. Salinger, Ellen Vermes, Jillian L. Waid, Amanda S. Wendt, Sarah J.N. Dupuis, Md Abul Kalam, Abdul Kader and Sheela S. Sinharoy
• E-Jahr: 2024
• Jahr: 01 February 2024
• Umfang: 15 S.
• Illustrationen: Illustrationen
• Fussnoten: Gesehen am 20.06.2024
• Titel Quelle: Enthalten in: BMC public health
• Ort Quelle: London : BioMed Central, 2001
• Jahr Quelle: 2024
• Band/Heft Quelle: 24(2024), Artikel-ID 338, Seite 1-15
• ISSN Quelle: 1471-2458
• DOI: doi:10.1186/s12889-024-17663-2
• Datenträger: Online-Ressource
• Sprache: eng
• Sach-SW: Agency
• Sach-SW: Agriculture
• Sach-SW: Measurement
• Sach-SW: Preference
• Sach-SW: Women’s empowerment
• K10plus-PPN: 1891669419

Abstract

Background: Agency – including the sub-domains of intrinsic agency, instrumental agency, and collective agency – is a critical component of the women’s empowerment process. Self-efficacy (a component of intrinsic agency) may operate as a motivational influence for women to make choices according to their own preferences or goals, such that higher self-efficacy would be associated with more autonomous decision-making (a key component of instrumental agency). Methods: We examine these relationships using mixed methods. We developed a series of decision-making autonomy indices, which captured alignment between the woman’s reported and preferred roles in health and nutrition decisions. Using ordinal logistic regression, we assessed the relationship between generalized self-efficacy and decision-making autonomy. Results: There was a consistently positive association across all categories of decision-making, controlling for a number of individual and household-level covariates. In a sub-sample of joint decision-makers (i.e., women who reported making decisions with at least one other household member), we compared the association between generalized self-efficacy (i.e., one’s overall belief in their ability to succeed) and decision-making autonomy to that of domain-specific self-efficacy (i.e., one’s belief in their ability to achieve a specific goal) and decision-making autonomy. Across all decision-making categories, domain-specific self-efficacy was more strongly associated with decision-making autonomy than generalized self-efficacy. In-depth interviews provided additional context for interpretation of the regression analyses. Conclusions: The results indicate the importance of the role of self-efficacy in the women’s empowerment process, even in the traditionally female-controlled areas of health and nutrition decision-making. The development of the decision-making autonomy index is an important contribution to the literature in that it directly recognizes and captures the role of women’s preferences regarding participation in decision-making.