Knowledge and Beliefs about Mechanism of Action of Birth Control Methods among European Women

Background: Adequate knowledge is essential for making informed decisions. We attempted to determine the level of knowledge about mechanisms of action of birth control methods in five representative samples of European women. Study design: Randomly selected women, aged 18-49 years, completed an anonymous survey in Germany, France, the UK, Sweden and Romania (N=1137). Participants were asked about how contraceptive methods work and if providers should inform them about this issue. Multiple linear regression was used to evaluate women’s characteristics associated with their knowledge of mechanisms of action. Results: The majority of women identified the unequivocal mode of action of condoms, sterilization and abortion. Less than 2% identified all possible mechanisms of action of hormonal contraceptives and intrauterine devices. Highly-educated women correctly identified the mechanism or mechanisms of action of more methods than less educated women (β coef.=0.22, 95%CI=0.01-0.43). Regardless of their sociodemographic characteristics and their belief about when human life begins, most women (75%) stated that the provider should inform them about possible postfertilization effects. Conclusions: European women have low knowledge about mechanisms of action of several contraceptive methods. The majority want to be informed about possible postfertilization effects. Since adequate knowledge is essential for making informed decisions, providers are encouraged to inform women about all possible mechanisms of action of contraceptives

Reductions in abortion-related mortality following policy reform: evidence from Romania, South Africa and Bangladesh

Unsafe abortion is a significant contributor to worldwide maternal mortality; however, abortion law and policy liberalization could lead to drops in unsafe abortion and related deaths. This review provides an analysis of changes in abortion mortality in three countries where significant policy reform and related service delivery occurred. Drawing on peer-reviewed literature, population data and grey literature on programs and policies, this paper demonstrates the policy and program changes that led to declines in abortion-related mortality in Romania, South Africa and Bangladesh. In all three countries, abortion policy liberalization was followed by implementation of safe abortion services and other reproductive health interventions. South Africa and Bangladesh trained mid-level providers to offer safe abortion and menstrual regulation services, respectively, Romania improved contraceptive policies and services, and Bangladesh made advances in emergency obstetric care and family planning. The findings point to the importance of multi-faceted and complementary reproductive health reforms in successful implementation of abortion policy reform

Channels through which Public Employment Services and Small Business Assistance Programmes Work

Empirical evidence has found that public employment services (PES) and small business assistance (SBA) programmes are successful at getting the unemployed back to work. Policywise it is important to know which of these two programmes is more effective, for whom, and when. Using unusually rich survey data and matching methods, this study evaluates the relative effectiveness of PES and SBA for different subgroups in Romania in the late 1990s, where the outcome variables involve earnings, employment and unemployment in 2000-1 and early 2002. It finds that heterogeneity matters and that these programmes need to be tailored to the problem at hand. Copyright (c) Blackwell Publishing Ltd and the Department of Economics, University of Oxford, 2010.

EVS Trend File 1981-2017 – Sensitive Dataset

The European Values Study is a large-scale, cross-national and longitudinal survey research program on how Europeans think about family, work, religion, politics, and society. Repeated every nine years in an increasing number of countries, the survey provides insights into the ideas, beliefs, preferences, attitudes, values, and opinions of citizens all over Europe. The EVS Trend File 1981-2017 is constructed from the five EVS waves and covers almost 40 years. In altogether 160 surveys, more than 224.000 respondents from 48 countries/regions were interviewed. It is based on the updated data of the EVS Longitudinal Data File 1981-2008 (v.3.1.0) and the current EVS 2017 Integrated Dataset (v.5.0.0). For the EVS Trend File, a Restricted-Use File (ZA7504) is available in addition to the (factually anonymised) Scientific-Use File (ZA7503). The EVS Trend File – Sensitive Dataset (ZA7504) is provided as an add-on file. In addition to a small set of admin and protocol variables needed to merge with the SUF data, the Sensitive Dataset contains the following variables that could not be included in the scientific-use file due to their sensitive nature: W005_3 Job profession/industry (3-digit ISCO88) - spouse/partner EVS 2008W005_3_01 Job profession/industry (3-digit ISCO08) - spouse/partner EVS 2017W005_4 Job profession/industry (4-digit ISCO88) - spouse/partner EVS 2008X035_3 Job profession/industry (3-digit ISCO88) – respondent EVS 1999, EVS 2008 X035_3_01 Job profession/industry (3-digit ISCO08) - respondent EVS 2017X035_4 Job profession/industry (4-digit ISCO88) – respondent EVS 1999, EVS 2008 x048c_n3 Region where the interview was conducted (NUTS-3): NUTS version 2006 EVS 2008X048J_N3 Region where the interview was conducted (NUTS-3): NUTS version 2016 EVS 2017X049 Size of town (8 categories) EVS 2008, EVS 2017 Detailed information on the anonymization process in the EVS Trend File is provided in the EVS Trend File Variable Report

CSES Module 1 Full Release

The module was administered as a post-election interview. The resulting data are provided along with voting, demographic, district and macro variables in a single dataset. CSES Variable List The list of variables is being provided on the CSES Website to help in understanding what content is available from CSES, and to compare the content available in each module. Themes: MICRO-LEVEL DATA: Identification and study administration variables: weighting factors;election type; date of election 1st and 2nd round; study timing (post election study, pre-election and post-election study, between rounds of majoritarian election); mode of interview; gender of interviewer; date questionnaire administered; primary electoral district of respondent; number of days the interview was conducted after the election Demography: age; gender; education; marital status; union membership; union membership of others in household; current employment status; main occupation; employment type - public or private; industrial sector; occupation of chief wage earner and of spouse; household income; number of persons in household; number of children in household under the age of 18; attendance at religious services; religiosity; religious denomination; language usually spoken at home; race; ethnicity; region of residence; rural or urban residence Survey variables: respondent cast a ballot at the current and the previous election; respondent cast candidate preference vote at the previous election; satisfaction with the democratic process in the country; last election was conducted fairly; form of questionnaire (long or short); party identification; intensity of party identification; political parties care what people think; political parties are necessary; recall of candidates from the last election (name, gender and party); number of candidates correctly named; sympathy scale for selected parties and political leaders; assessment of the state of the economy in the country; assessment of economic development in the country; degree of improvement or deterioration of economy; politicians know what people think; contact with a member of parliament or congress during the past twelve months; attitude towards selected statements: it makes a difference who is in power and who people vote for; people express their political opinion; self-assessment on a left-right-scale; assessment of parties and political leaders on a left-right-scale; political information items DISTRICT-LEVEL DATA: number of seats contested in electoral district; number of candidates; number of party lists; percent vote of different parties; official voter turnout in electoral district MACRO-LEVEL DATA: founding year of parties; ideological families of parties; international organization the parties belong to; left-right position of parties assigned by experts; election outcomes by parties in current (lower house/upper house) legislative election; percent of seats in lower house received by parties in current lower house/upper house election; percent of seats in upper house received by parties in current lower house/upper house election; percent of votes received by presidential candidate of parties in current elections; electoral turnout; electoral alliances permitted during the election campaign; existing electoral alliances; most salient factors in the election; head of state (regime type); if multiple rounds: selection of head of state; direct election of head of state and process of direct election; threshold for first-round victory; procedure for candidate selection at final round; simple majority or absolute majority for 2nd round victory; year of presidential election (before or after this legislative election); process if indirect election of head of state; head of government (president or prime minister); selection of prime minister; number of elected legislative chambers; for lower and upper houses was coded: number of electoral segments; number of primary districts; number of seats; district magnitude (number of members elected from each district); number of secondary and tertiary electoral districts; compulsory voting; votes cast; voting procedure; electoral formula; party threshold; parties can run joint lists; requirements for joint party lists; possibility of apparentement; types of apparentement agreements; multi-party endorsements; multi-party endorsements on ballot; ally party support; constitutional prerogatives of the head of state; constitutional powers of prime minister; methods of cabinet dismissal; dissolution of legislatur

European Values Study 2017: Integrated Dataset (EVS 2017) - Sensitive Data

The European Values Study is a large-scale, cross-national and longitudinal survey research program on how Europeans think about family, work, religion, politics, and society. Repeated every nine years in an increasing number of countries, the survey provides insights into the ideas, beliefs, preferences, attitudes, values, and opinions of citizens all over Europe. As previous waves conducted in 1981, 1990, 1999, 2008, the fifth EVS wave maintains a persistent focus on a broad range of values. Questions are highly comparable across waves and regions, making EVS suitable for research aimed at studying trends over time. The new wave has seen a strengthening of the methodological standards. The full release of the EVS 2017 includes data and documentation of altogether 37 participating countries. For more information, please go to the EVS website. Topics: unified respondent number; country code (ISO 3166-1 numeric code); country abbreviation (ISO 3166-1 Alpha-2 code); country and year of fieldwork (ISO 3166-1 numeric code); kind of job respondent - 3 digit ISCO08 code; kind of job spouse/partner - 3 digit ISCO08 code; region where interview was conducted: NUTS-3 code; region where interview was conducted: ISO_NUTS-3 code; size of town where interview was conducted