A measurement tool to capture sexual harassment among women in Tanzania: results from cognitive testing

Sexual harassment is a serious public health problem, yet there is a lack of clarity on its measurement.

We set out to develop a measurement tool to capture sexual harassment in the different spheres of women's everyday lives.

We conducted 60 cognitive interviews with women in two iterations. In each iteration, we interviewed 10 young women aged 15-24 years, sampled from two public secondary schools; 20 women aged 25 years and above sampled from public spaces and workplaces. Iteration one explored five key questions involving concepts on unwelcome or unwanted touching, signals, and/or words or comments of sexual nature from the boy/man and a direct question on 'ever experiencing sexual harassment'. Only three questions were explored in iteration two with the additional layer of context.

Majority of the participants were able to grasp the key concepts. However, they were likely to respond 'yes' to questions that were less descriptive and that included additional information on context where harassment happened. A very explicit question, 'ever experienced sexual harassment' appeared stigmatising and yielded fewer affirmative responses from the same individuals. Older women understood the questions earlier than adolescent girls who were more likely to ask for clarification and a repeat of the questions.

An optimal question for measuring sexual harassment must include the context for the behaviour and avoid stigmatising participants. We propose a comprehensive question that includes all forms of harassment and that can be adapted for measuring the practice in different populations and contexts.