Examples

(or go back to the Anchoring Vignettes Website)

If you have written your own vignette questions, please email us the questions. If someone else uses the same ones, you will both have more surveys you can compare across.

WHO's World Health Survey

Health
(by Lydia Bendib, Somnath Chatterji, Alena Petrakova, Ritu Sadana, Joshua A. Salomon, Margie Schneider, Bedirhan Ustun, Maria Villanueva)

Politics and Government
(by Kenneth Benoit, Karen Ferree, Debra Javeline, Gary King)

Responsiveness of Health System Adminstration
(by Somnath Chatterji, Kei Kawabata, Rene Lawalle, Mark van Ommeren, Richard Poe, Amala da Silva, Nicole Valentine, Maria Villanueva)

Project Compare
( by Arthur van Soest et al.)
Wisconsin Longitudinal Survey
(by Jeremy Freese and Robert M. Hauser)
WLS MEMO 145 - Revised Plan For Implementing WHS Health Vignettes

Cross-Country Differences in Job Satisfaction
(by Nicolai Kristensen and Edvard Johansson)

School Community Strength
(by Jack Buckley) Work Limitations
(by Arie Kapteyn) State Effectiveness And Corruption
(by Anna Grzymala-Bussewith the assistance of IREX and NCEEER funding) HIV Risk and Women's Autonomy
(by Shelley Clark)
Women Men

Harvard Center for Population & Development Studies
(by Allan G. Hill)

World Bank, Development Research Group
(by Kathleen Beegle, Kristen Himelein, and Martin Ravallion; see Frame of Reference Bias in Subjective Welfare Regressions)

Affect

Anchoring Vignettes for Affect

Questions:

  1. Overall in the last 30 days, how much of a problem did [name of person] have with feeling sad, low, or depressed?
  2. In the last 30 days, how much of a problem did [name of person] have with worry or anxiety?

Response categories:

  1. None
  2. Mild
  3. Moderate
  4. Severe
  5. Extreme/Cannot Do
Vignettes:
  1. [Ken] loves life and is happy all the time. He never worries or gets upset about anything and deals with things as they come.***
  2. [Karim] is always happy and positive even when things go wrong in his life and never gets depressed. Though he occasionally worries about his hearing loss, he enjoys life and tries to make the most of it.
  3. [Henriette] enjoys her work and social activities and is generally satisfied with her life. She gets depressed every 3 weeks for a day or two and loses interest in what she usually enjoys but is able to carry on with her day to day activities.***
  4. [Margaret] is happy most of the time but often worries about things in general, such as health, work, family, and losing the people she loves. Once or twice a month, she wakes up at night thinking about these things.
  5. [Tamara] has mood swings. When she gets depressed, everything she does is an effort for her and she no longer enjoys her usual activities. These mood swings are not predictable and occur two or three times during a month.
  6. [Shereen] is usually an outgoing and cheerful person who has many friends and enjoys going out. Three or four days a month, she feels sad all day so tends to avoid people.
  7. [Tania] feels happy and enjoys things like hobbies or social activities around half of the time. Otherwise she worries about the future and feels depressed around one or two days a month.
  8. [Eva] feels worried all the time about her health. She gets depressed once a week for a day or two, thinking about what could go wrong and all the illnesses she could get, but is able to come out of this mood if she concentrates on something else.
  9. [May]'s father died a week ago. She is finding it hard to face up to each day and feels sad and empty. She weeps easily thinking about her father.
  10. [Laura] has recently ended a relationship she had for 5 years. She feels very distressed and has been crying almost everyday for the past 2 weeks.
  11. [Jan] feels nervous and anxious. He worries and thinks negatively about the future, but feels better in the company of people or when doing something that really interests him. When he is alone he tends to feel useless and empty.***
  12. [Sylvia] feels sad and tearful several times a week and it is difficult to cheer her up. She has no job and has very few friends. Although she is not thinking of killing herself, she does not see any purpose in living.
  13. [Nathan] has attacks of anxiety when he goes out of his house. So he leaves his home only once a week, and never by himself.
  14. [Cedric] suffers from a chronic illness for which there is no cure. He is depressed every day and has lost interest in things he used to enjoy. He often wishes he was dead.
  15. [Roberta] feels depressed most of the time. She weeps frequently and feels hopeless about the future. She feels that she has become a burden on others and that she would be better dead.***
  16. [Vivian] has already had five admissions into the hospital because she has attempted suicide twice in the past year and has harmed herself on three other occasions. She is very distressed every day for the most part of the day, and sees no hope of things ever getting better. She is thinking of trying to end her life again.***

*** Included in the final World Health Survey instrument in 2002.

Affect

Anchoring Vignettes for Affect

Questions:

  1. How much of a problem did [name] have with feeling sad, low, or depressed?
  2. How much of a problem did [name] have with worry or anxiety?
Response categories:
  1. None
  2. Mild
  3. Moderate
  4. Severe
  5. Extreme

Vignettes:

  1. [Name] enjoys his [her] work and social activities and is generally satisfied with his [her] life. He [she] gets depressed every 3 weeks for a day or two and loses interest in what he [she] usually enjoys but is able to carry on with his [her] day to day activities.

  2. [Name] worries often about his [her] health. He [She] gets depressed once a week for a day or two, thinking about what could go wrong and all the illnesses he [she] could get, but is able to come out of this mood if he [she] concentrates on something else.

  3. [Name] feels nervous and anxious. He [She] worries and thinks negatively about the future, but feels better in the company of people or when doing something that really interests him [her]. When he [she] is alone he [she] tends to feel useless and empty.

  4. [Name] feels depressed most of the time. He [she] weeps frequently and feels hopeless about the future. He [She] feels that he [she] has become a burden on others and that he [she] would be better dead.

Affect

Anchoring Vignettes for Affect

Questions:

  1. How much was [name of person] limited in the kind or amount of work he/she could do?
Response categories:
  1. None
  2. Mild
  3. Moderate
  4. Severe
  5. Extreme/Cannot Do

Vignettes:

  1. [Henriette] generally enjoys her work. She gets depressed every 3 weeks for a day or two and loses interest in what she usually enjoys but is able to carry on with her day-to-day activities on the job.

  2. [Jim] enjoys work very much. He feels that he is doing a very good job and is optimistic about the future.

  3. [Tamara] has mood swings on the job. When she gets depressed, everything she does at work is an effort for her and she no longer enjoys her usual activities at work. These mood swings are not predictable and occur two or three times during a month.

  4. [Eva] feels worried all the time. She gets depressed once a week at work for a couple of days in a row, thinking about what could go wrong and that her boss will disapprove of her condition. But she is able to come out of this mood if she concentrates on something else.

  5. [Roberta] feels depressed most of the time. She weeps frequently at work and feels hopeless about the future. She feels that she has become a burden to her co-workers and that she would be better dead.

Breathing

Anchoring Vignettes for Breathing

Questions:

  1. In the last 30 days, how much of a problem did [name of person/you] have because of shortness of breath when climbing a steep hill or walking for 1 km?
  2. In the last 30 days, how much of a problem did [name of person/you] have because of coughing or wheezing for 5 minutes or more at a time?

Response categories:

  1. None
  2. Mild
  3. Moderate
  4. Severe
  5. Extreme/Cannot Do
Vignettes:
  1. [Trish] is very active and fit. She takes aerobic classes 3 times a week and goes for strenuous hikes at high altitudes once a month. She does not get breathless or have wheezing.
  2. [Helen] is an athlete and has been a training coach for the past 5 years. She runs 5 kilometres three times a week with her team without getting breathless.
  3. [Norbert] has no problems with exercise such as walking for 15 minutes or climbing stairs. With more vigorous activity such as playing tennis or walking at a fast pace, he gets out of breath after 15 minutes and has to rest .
  4. [Paul] has no problems while walking slowly. He gets out of breath easily when climbing uphill for 20 meters or a flight of stairs.
  5. [Tom] has asthma and is on medication. He enjoys riding his bicycle twice or three times per week for two or three hours. He has attacks of wheezing once a month that go away half an hour after having an injection.
  6. [Jeremy] coughs or wheezes whenever he walks faster than he usually does, such as when trying to catch the bus. This happens at least once every week.
  7. [Anna] is 30kg overweight for her height. She gets out of breath easily when doing household chores or carrying the shopping. She has to stop frequently to catch her breath.
  8. [Tania] suffers from a blocked nose and a frequent cold that leads to her breathing through her mouth. Her symptoms are decreased with medication but her work and social life are restricted.
  9. [Dan] suffers from respiratory infections about once every year. He is short of breath 3 or 4 times a week and had to be admitted in hospital twice in the past month with a cough that required treatment with antibiotics.
  10. [Carolina] smokes 20 cigarettes a day. When she cycles for 15 minutes she gets out of breath and has to get off her bike and walk. Whenever she smokes she coughs and has a sore throat.
  11. [Leena] has been smoking 20 cigarettes per day for more than 20 years. She has a severe cough once or twice each day that leaves her with an ache in the chest. She gets breathless whenever she runs even 10 metres.
  12. [Peter] is a survivor from lung cancer 5 years ago and had surgery. He works in an office which is on the 3rd floor. He is unable to walk up the stairs due to breathlessness. Occasionally he ends up coughing uncontrollably and ends up coughing blood.
  13. [Carlos] has been a heavy smoker for 30 years and wakes up with a cough every morning. He gets short of breath even while resting and does not leave the house anymore. He often needs to be put on oxygen.
  14. [Leila] suffers from asthma and her condition has worsened. She had to be taken to the emergency ward of a hospital three times in the past month and received oxygen due to her wheezing.
  15. [David] had a severe car accident two days ago and his head was injured. He is in the hospital at the emergency unit. His breathing is supported by a ventilation machine and he has no cough reflex.

CVD

Anchoring Vignettes for CVD

Questions:

  1. How much was [name of person] limited in the kind or amount of work he/she could do?
Response categories:
  1. None
  2. Mild
  3. Moderate
  4. Severe
  5. Extreme/Cannot Do

Vignettes:

  1. [Trish] is very active and fit. She takes aerobic classes 3 times a week. Her job is not physically demanding, but sometimes a little stressful.

  2. [Norbert] has had heart problems in the past and he has been told to watch his cholesterol level. Sometimes if he feels stressed at work he feels pain in his chest and occasionally in his arms.

  3. [Paul]’s family has a history of heart problems. His father died of a heart attack when Paul was still very young. The doctors have told Paul that he is at severe risk of having a serious heart attack himself and that he should avoid strenuous physical activity or stress. His work is sedentary, but he frequently has to meet strict deadlines, which adds considerable pressure to his job. He sometimes feels severe pain in chest and arms, and suffers from dizziness, fainting, sweating, nausea or shortness of breath.

  4. [Tom] has been diagnosed with high blood pressure. His blood pressure goes up quickly if he feels under stress. Tom does not exercise much and is overweight. His job is not physically demanding, but sometimes it can be hectic. He does not get along with his boss very well.

  5. [Dan] has undergone triple bypass heart surgery. He is a heavy smoker and still experiences severe chest pain sometimes. His job does not involve heavy physical demands, but sometimes at work he experiences dizzy spells and chest pain.

Choice of Providers

Anchoring Vignettes for Choice of Providers

Questions:

Now, overall, how would you rate [your/name of person's] experience of being able to choose to see the health care provider [you/he] went to?

Response categories:

  1. Very good
  2. Good
  3. Moderate
  4. Very bad
  5. Bad

Vignettes:

  1. [Simon] has joint pains and breathlessness. He sees two specialists for these problems once every 2 months. Recently as his breathlessness was worsening, he asked to see a heart specialist. On his request, he was referred to a heart specialist who adjusted his medicines.

  2. [Zubin] lives in a large city with more than 5000 doctors. Zubin belongs to a medical insurance that allows him to go to any of these doctors. After using a few different doctors, Zubin decides that he prefers using one particular doctor, Dr Chowdary. He told the last doctor he saw before Dr. Chowdary and this doctor transferred his medical records to Dr. Chowdary who was able to see [Zubin] as his regular doctor.

  3. [Nathan] went to a clinic because of headaches. The doctor there gave him medicine but that did not help. [Nathan] asked twice to be referred to a specialist. The second time, the doctor agreed to refer him to a specialist, Dr Ready. Dr Ready examined him and detected cancer. He recommended surgery. [Nathan] knew of a surgeon he liked and asked whether this surgeon could operate on him. Dr Ready phoned this surgeon and was able to arrange for that surgeon to operate on [Nathan].

  4. [Ibrahim] had stomach problems for several years. He has visited his doctor many times. His requests for a referral to a particularly well-known stomach specialist have been turned down because his doctor was sure that he was capable of treating the illness and assured [Ibrahim] of this.

  5. [Waheed] was feeling pains in his chest and was worried that he was having a heart attack. He went to a city clinic he usually used but they turned him away because they were full. He explained to the nurse that he wanted to use that clinic because he knew the place and the staff there and didn't want to change environments when he is feeling sick. They agreed to take him in.

  6. [Alfredo] has a doctor, whom he consults regularly. Recently, friends advised him to consult a herbalist [substitute appropriate name for a type of alternative medicine provider ] for a skin problem. When he asked for a referral, his doctor said that he would prefer to send him to a skin specialist he knew.

  7. [Andhaka] went to a hospital in the city. The hospital was large with different sections for different diseases. After he told the nurse he had an ear infection, he was sent to a particular department dealing with ear infections. When he went to the department, he saw the doctor on duty. On returning for a follow-up visit, he asked to see the same doctor but he was told that he could not see him because he was not available.

  8. [Sophia] has a lump in her chest, and is referred to a hospital for surgery. She wants her doctor to operate on her but the hospital says its not possible because only government employees can operate at that facility. She would like to go to another hospital but the only other one near her is too expensive. She resigned to having the operation done by some other doctor she does not know.

  9. [Mamadou] goes to the community health centre for his epilepsy. When the health centre is not very busy, he can choose which doctor he wants to see. But when it is busy, he cannot decide which specific doctor he will see, because at those times he gets sent to whoever is free.

  10. [Pascal] had his blood pressure taken several times at a certain hospital . Each time that he went, he was seen by a different doctor. When he asked to see the same doctor, he was told that it is not possible as the way the doctors worked was to see whoever was waiting when they were free. The problem [Pascal] experienced was that each time he visited the doctor would ask him the same questions as though he were going there for the first time.

Cognition

Anchoring Vignettes for Cognition

Questions:

  1. Overall in the last 30 days overall how much difficulty did [name of the person/you] have remembering things?
  2. In the last 30 days how much difficulty did [name of person/you] have with mental arithmetic?
  3. In the last 30 days, how much difficulty did [name of person] have in learning a new task (for example, learning how to get to a new place, learning a new game, learning a new recipe etc.)?

Response categories:

  1. None
  2. Mild
  3. Moderate
  4. Severe
  5. Extreme/Cannot Do
Vignettes:
  1. [Xanta] remembers every detail of past events including names of people, places, streets and dates in chronological order. She is a history teacher and can lecture for 2 hours without looking at her notes. She is very quick with doing complex sums in her head.
  2. [Rob] is very quick to learn new skills at his work. He can pay attention to the task at hand for long uninterrupted periods of time. He can remember names of people, addresses, phone numbers and such details that go back several years.***
  3. [Sandra] never needs to write anything down and remembers what she has to do. Over the last month, however, she has been very worried and anxious about the health of one of her children and has started to forget phone numbers and items from the grocery store. She enjoys learning new things and continues to be able to do this. Very occasionally she struggles with adding and dividing large numbers in her head.
  4. [Malcolm] can concentrate while watching TV, reading a magazine or playing a game of cards or chess. He can learn new variations in these games with small effort. Once a week he forgets where his keys or glasses are, but finds them within five minutes.***
  5. [Alfred] can remember details of events that have taken place or names of people he has met many years ago. He can do everyday calculations in his mind. During periods of anxiety lasting 2 to 3 hours once a month, he becomes confused and cannot think very clearly.
  6. [Johanna] can pay attention to the task she is performing for periods of up to one hour, and has no trouble returning to work after being distracted by conversation with her colleagues. She can remember names of people she meets often, their addresses and important numbers, but occasionally has to remind herself of the names of people she went to school with 10 years ago. She can do sums in her head very quickly.
  7. [Marjorie] had a car accident a year ago and was in a state of coma for several months. She is conscious now but only remembers events that have happened since the accident. She does not remember anything about her past, not even her family or friends. Though she can add and subtract numbers in her head, multiplication and division is a problem.
  8. [Tom] finds it difficult to concentrate on reading newspaper articles or watching television programmes for more than 30 minutes. He is forgetful and once a week or so, he misplaces important things, such as keys or money, but is able to find them eventually. He can count change correctly while shopping but adding up prices of several things in his head is a problem.
  9. [Sue] can find her way around the neighbourhood and know where her own belongings are kept, but struggles to remember how to get to a place she has only visited once or twice. She is keen to learn new recipies but finds that she often makes mistakes and has to reread several times before she is able to do them properly.***
  10. [Theo] cannot concentrate for more than 15 minutes and has difficulty paying attention to what is being said to him. Whenever he starts a task, he never manages to finish it and often forgets what he was doing. He is able to learn the names of people he meets but cannot be trusted to follow directions to a store by himself.***
  11. [Juliana] is easily distracted and within 10 minutes of beginning a task her attention drifts to something else. She can remember important facts when she tries, but four or five times a week finds that she has to struggle to recollect what people have said or events that have taken place in the last month. Though adding and subtracting numbers in her head is not a problem, she makes mistakes if she has to multiply or divide numbers in her head.
  12. [Biko] likes to tell people about his his travels to countries abroad and his experiences. He remembers past events but not what he did the previous week or what he had for lunch that same day. He finds it impossible to count the change correctly when he goes to a shop.
  13. [Christian] is very forgetful and often loses his way around places that are not very familiar. He needs to be prompted about names of close relatives and loses important things such as keys and money every day. He has to make notes to remind himself to do even very important tasks. He cannot identify money when shown and cannot count coins.
  14. [Anthea] lives with her sister. She gets quite confused and disoriented once or twice a day and does not remember where she is or who her sister is. She does not remember the time of day and has been found three times during the last month wandering in the middle of the night thinking it was daytime. During these periods she notices that she cannot count numbers in her head.
  15. [Peter] does not recognize even close relatives and gets lost when he leaves the house unaccompanied. Even when prompted, he shows no recollection of events or recognition of relatives. It is impossible for him to acquire any new knowledge as even simple instructions leave him confused.***

*** Included in the final World Health Survey instrument in 2002.

Cognition and Self Care

Anchoring Vignettes for Cognition and Self Care

Questions:

  1. Overall in the last 30 days, how much difficulty did [name of person] have with self-care, such as washing or dressing herself?
  2. In the last 30 days, how much difficulty did [name of person] have in taking care of and maintaining her general appearance (for example, grooming, looking neat and tidy)?

Response categories:

  1. None
  2. Mild
  3. Moderate
  4. Severe
  5. Extreme
Vignettes:
  1. [Esi] pays a lot of attention to the way she looks. She requires no assistance with cleanliness, dressing and eating.
  2. [Adjoa] can find her way around the neighborhood and know where her own belongings are kept, but struggles to remember how to get to a place she has only visited once or twice. She is keen to learn new recipes but finds that she often makes mistakes and has to reread several times before she is able to do them properly.
  3. [Araba] is quadriplegic and must be washed, groomed, dressed and fed by somebody else.
  4. [Ekua] can concentrate while watching TV, reading a magazine or playing a game of cards or chess. She can learn new variations in these games with small effort. Once a week she forgets where her keys or glasses are, but finds them within five minutes.
  5. [Aba] is very quick to learn new skills at her work. She can pay attention to the task at hand for long uninterrupted periods of time. She can remember names of people, addresses, phone numbers and such details that go back several years.
  6. [Efua] cannot concentrate for more than 15 minutes and has difficulty paying attention to what is being said to her. Whenever she starts a task, she never manages to finish it and often forgets what she was doing. She is able to learn the names of people she meets but cannot be trusted to follow directions to a store by herself.
  7. [Fatima] takes twice as long as others to put on and take off clothes, but needs no help with ther. Although it requires an effort, she is able to bathe and groom herself, though less frequently than before. She does not require help with feeding.
  8. [Mame] does not recognize even close relatives and gets lost when she leaves the house unaccompanied. Even when prompted, she shows no recollection of events or recognition of relatives. It is impossible for her to acquire any new knowledge as even simple instructions leave her confused.
  9. [Comfort] lives on her own and has no relatives or friends nearby. Because of her arthritis, she is house-bound. She often stays all day in the same clothes that she has slept in, as changing clothes is too painful. A neighbour helps her wash herself.
  10. [Giftie] requires no assistance with cleanliness, dressing and eating. She occasionally suffers from back pain and when this happens she needs help with bathing and dressing. She always keeps herself tidy.



Communication

Anchoring Vignettes for Communication

Questions:

Now, how would you rate the experience of how clearly health care providers communicated with [name of person/you]?

Response categories:

  1. Very good
  2. Good
  3. Moderate
  4. Bad
  5. Very bad

Vignettes:

  1. [Deborah] is a young woman who has been brought to the clinic by her family, because she feels anxious. She is also afraid that she may die although she is in good health. She spoke to the doctor there who advised [Deborah] on how she may deal with her anxiety. The doctor asked Deborah how she thought she would be able to use the advice he gave her. They discussed her suggestions and how she could call him if there was anything else she needed to ask him in the future.

  2. [Pia] goes to the emergency clinic, because of intense stomach pain. After the investigations, the doctor sits down with Pia and for 20 minutes explains to Pia her diagnosis and the way the treatment works. The doctor is from a different part of the country so speaks with a different accent but he speaks slower to help her understand. Once or twice she asks him what he means when he says certain things. He answer her using some examples that she is more familiar with.

  3. [Sonia] has arrived at the clinic with her three-month-old baby girl. Sonia says that the baby has lost a lot of weight, has had fever for two days and will not take her milk. After a brief discussion together the nurse said what she thought was the problem. She asked Sonia if she understood and gave her some powered milk and medicine to give to the baby.

  4. [Mario] has been told that he has epilepsy and that he needs to take medication. The doctor has very briefly explained what the condition is. He is very busy and there is a queue of patients waiting to see him. Mario would like to know more about what he has, but feels that there is no time to ask questions. The doctor says goodbye to Mario, and Mario leaves the office.

  5. [Thomas] has noticed that he cannot see very well anymore. He goes to the doctor, who tells him that he has cataracts and that he needs an operation. The doctor has explained to Thomas what he has, but Thomas did not understand everything and asks the doctor to explain more. The doctor takes the time to explain again, but still Thomas does not fully understand.

  6. [Akiko] is in hospital after a car accident. She has lots of scratches, bruises and some broken bones. When the doctor visits her on his last ward round, the doctor asked the nurse to see [Akiko's] medical records. He asked the nurse some questions and then he said that [Akiko] was making good progress. [Akiko] supposes that she will still stay there for another week but is unsure.

  7. [Phil] goes to the clinic to receive treatment for his skin disease. After a brief discussion, the nurse puts cream on Phil's skin. Phil then tells the nurse that he is worried because his children are not doing well in school. The nurse ignores this comment and tells Phil to come back next week if the skin problem has not improved.

  8. [Jiang] has been having pain in his chest for a while. Whenever he coughs or exercises, his chest is especially painful. He has been smoking for 30 years. After examining him, the doctor has told him that he will get cancer if he does not stop smoking. He explains to [Jiang] the effects of smoking on his lungs, his heart and the people around him. [Jiang] understood most of what the doctor said but couldn't really see how he was going to stop.

  9. [Carmen] has gone for a blood test and the doctor has told her that she has "diabetes mellitus" and that her "pancreatic activity is faulty". He has also told her she needs "regular insulin injections" and that she should watch for "hypoglycaemia" and becoming blind. [Carmen] feels very confused and scared, because she does not understand what the doctor is talking about, but she has to leave because the doctor has already called the next patient.

  10. [Rose] is an elderly woman who can not write or read. Lately, she has been feeling dizzy and has problems sleeping. She went to the doctor. The doctor did not seem very interested in what she was telling him. He told her it was nothing and wrote something on a piece of paper, telling her to get the medication at the pharmacy. He then gave her a brochure explaining her condition-ignoring the fact that Rose could not read. He then sent Rose away.

Conditions and Cleanliness

Anchoring Vignettes for Cleanliness

Questions:

Overall, how would you rate [name of person/your] experience with the conditions and cleanliness at the health facility?

Response categories:

  1. Very good
  2. Good
  3. Moderate
  4. Bad
  5. Very bad

Vignettes:

  1. [Albert] visits his doctor once a month to collect a prescription. The doctor's office has comfortable chairs in the waiting room and clean toilets. It is well lit, and there are magazines and booklets to read while waiting.

  2. [Shelley] has a child in hospital for a minor operation. She visits the child regularly. The child is in a room with 5 other children. They each have their own beds, enough sheets and blankets. She observed that the hospital staff changed the bedding when the child had wet the bed. The room was at a pleasant temperature with enough fresh air.

  3. [Shedra] had to be hospitalised last year for a hip operation. The ward was comfortable and cleaned by the hospital staff and the sheets were changed daily. The bed was comfortable and the bathroom clean. The hospital meals were adequate. The food tasted good and meals were served regularly.

  4. [Wing] is in hospital for a few weeks. Usually, the amount of food is enough but occasionally [Wing] felt that the food portions could have been a bit larger. During the day, the temperature in the hospital has been very comfortable, but one night it was a bit cold. The place was cleaned frequently.

  5. [José] woke up one morning with a stiff neck. He decided to go to the clinic that afternoon to find out what was wrong. The staff in the clinic included a cleaner, a nurse and a doctor. The cleaner swept the place in the morning and if it was needed during the day. There was no air conditioning or table fan ventilation but the room did not get uncomfortably warm.

  6. [José] was admitted to a local hospital for a week as he had developed high fever. The room was clean but small, and the toilet was a few metres away down the corridor. It was summer and hot, and the room was without any air conditioning or fan but he brought his own table fan from home.

  7. [Hans] had an eye operation in a local clinic last month. After the operation, he spent 5 days in a room that he had to share with four others with no partitions between beds. He was provided a small locker to keep his things. The five patients shared a toilet. The room as well as the toilet were cleaned every second day. Between cleaning, the toilet sometimes blocked and smelt a little.

  8. [Fouad] goes to the local public hospital whenever he needs to. The hospital is large but crowded. The waiting rooms are noisy and poorly ventilated. The hospital is generally kept clean though the toilets tend to smell by the end of the day.

  9. [Malika] has ongoing stomach problems and has to go to the dispensary regularly. The place is very crowded, there are not enough chairs for people to sit on as they wait for the doctor. The place is not cleaned regularly and tends to be full of litter. The corridors are dark and the lights and fans often do not work.

  10. [Kamal] has a nervous breakdown and had to spend 3 months in the past year in the local hospital. He had to sleep on an uncomfortable mattress with no sheets. There were 30 other patients in the same dormitory style ward and the toilets would smell, because they were not cleaned. He came back with a skin infection, because he couldn't wash regularly and there were insects in the bed.

Discretionary Provision of Government Jobs/Services

Anchoring Vignettes for Discretionary Provision Of Government Jobs/Services

Questions:

  1. How important is political party affiliation in your obtaining a job in the government sector?
Response categories:
  1. Essential
  2. Very Important
  3. Moderately Important
  4. Slightly Important
  5. Unimportant

Vignettes:

  1. [X] wants a job as an accountant in a government office. He files the official application, which asks only for his education and experience. Although he's been active in the opposition party, no one asks him about this during the application process, and he gets the job.

  2. [X] wants a job as an accountant in a government office. X is a member of the governing party, which gave him a recommendation for the job. He scores as well as the other candidate on the difficult qualifying exam. X gets the job.

  3. [X] wants a job as an accountant in a government office. The job application requires five years of experience. X is less qualified than the other applicants: he has three years of experience as an accountant. But he is active in the ruling party, and he gets the job.

  4. [X] wants a job as an accountant in a government office. Other applicants are far more qualified, but do not belong to the ruling party, and the official application asks for party affiliation. X is a long-standing governing party activist, and he gets the job.

Potential variants: clerk in a court of justice, state health inspector, tax collector.

Effectiveness of Public Administration

Anchoring Vignettes for Effectiveness of Public Administration

Questions:

  1. How effective is the government administration in collecting your taxes?
Response categories:
  1. Completely Effective
  2. Very Effective
  3. Moderately Effective
  4. Slightly Effective
  5. Not Effective At All

Vignettes:

  1. [X] owes personal income tax to the government. Several people she knows got caught for not paying their taxes and went to jail. She files the tax form, and pays the full amount owed.

  2. [X] owes personal income tax to the government. Most of the people she knows haven't reported their full income on their tax forms. Some were then audited, and had to pay a fine. She files the form and pays almost all the taxes she owes.

  3. [X] owes personal income tax to the government. He knows underpayment is illegal, but when he filed his taxes in the past, he paid half of what he was supposed to, and the tax office didn't react. He pays half his taxes.

  4. [X] owes personal income tax to the government. No one she knows pays income taxes, and nobody has ever faced sanctions from the government. She doesn't file the tax form, and she does not report or pay taxes otherwise.

Energy and Vitality

Anchoring Vignettes for Energy and Vitality

Questions:

Overall in the last 30 days how much of a problem did [name of person/you] have with energy and vitality?

Response categories:

  1. None
  2. Mild
  3. Moderate
  4. Severe
  5. Extreme/Cannot Do
Vignettes:
  1. [Anya] works on a farm and is up by 5am. Before leaving the house she fetches water from a well, which is some distance away, and takes the children to school. When she returns in the evening she cooks and does the household chores.
  2. [Margaret] used to be a professional tennis player (sportsperson) but now plays for her enjoyment. She usually plays every day for 2 hours to keep physically fit. In her free time she goes running and also practices swimming.
  3. [Daniel] is very active every day of the week. He practices sports and is involved in various social activities. He also works as a volunteer 3 nights a week counselling young people. He usually likes to rest on Sunday afternoon.
  4. [Sandra] has a very demanding and stressful job and works on average 10 hours a day. When she gets home she cooks, does a few chores and supervises her children’s homework. Her mother takes care of her children every week-end so she can get some rest.
  5. [Paolo] is a writer and works under pressure two weeks a month, sleeping very little and not taking any breaks. At the end of these periods he needs to take one day off from work to recover.
  6. [Hanna] does not do any sports as she lack the energy to do vigorous physical exercise. Occasionally, she enjoys relaxation classes and going for walks in the countryside. She has no problems doing day to day tasks, such as shopping or cleaning.
  7. [Forence] is not a physically active person but enjoys gardening when the weather permits (usually three weekends out of four). Whenever she spends a few hours in the garden, she feels tired afterwards and needs to rest for an hour or so.
  8. [Mariko] is a university student and is very involved in university life. She also studies very hard and has a set of exams every month. After these are over, she has no energy to do anything and needs 2 to 3 days to recover.
  9. [Muriel] has been suffering from a bad cold for 2 weeks. She still feels very weak and has not been able to go back to work. Her mother visits her every day and helps her with the chores that need to be done.
  10. [Andrea] is working for an important firm and works under a lot of pressure. She feels very tired and this is affecting her performance. She is thinking of working part-time as she cannot cope with the workload.
  11. [Angela] feels tired every afternoon, which makes any task that she does a great effort to her. Whenever she does the dishes, tidies up the house or prepare her meals for more than 10 minutes, she needs to sit down and rest.
  12. [Jonathan] is a heavy smoker and is very overweight. He cannot exercise as he gets immediately out of breath. He also gets tired very easily when climbing stairs, walking up a steep road or carrying the shopping bags.
  13. [Tara] has had to resign from work as her fatigue has started affecting her performance. She also has difficulties managing the home, and her husband has hired a housekeeper.
  14. [Conrad] leads a sedentary life because of his heart condition, and gets tired very quickly if he does any physical exercise. He is able to walk slowly at his own pace and for 15 minutes at a time.
  15. [Eleanor] feels tired all day, even though she gets plenty of sleep and rests after lunch. She needs someone to do the shopping and cleaning for her, as she has no energy to do it herself.

Getting Involved in Decisions

Anchoring Vignettes for Getting Involved in Decisions

Questions:

Now, how would you rate [your/name's] experience of getting involved as much as [you/he/she] wanted to be in making decisions about [your/his/her] care or treatment?

Response categories:

  1. Very good
  2. Good
  3. Moderate
  4. Very bad
  5. Bad

Vignettes:

  1. [Henry] has recently been diagnosed with diabetes. The first time he went to the clinic he had blood tests, eye tests and other routine tests, which he was reluctant to take. After the nurse explained what was involved in the procedures, [Henry] agreed to have the tests. After one test, the result they got was not clear so the nurse asked [Henry] if they could run the test again.

  2. [John] has been diagnosed as having a deadly disease. The doctor has spent time discussing the different drug therapies, the counselling support available, and other medical care that may be needed. The doctor has advised John to start taking medication. [John] said he would like to take some time to decide whether he wanted to start his medication as it would affect the quality of his life. The doctor said that was a good idea and they could discuss it again in a week.

  3. [Steve] is having trouble sleeping. The doctor explains what is wrong and that there is one highly effective medication, which can have side effects involving stomach aches. In addition, the doctor explains that there is also a moderately effective medication, which has no side effects. The doctor asks Steve if he wants medication. Steve says 'yes' but he is not sure which. They discuss this some more and eventually Steve, with the doctor's help, decides on the moderately effective medication without side effects. The doctor prescribes the requested medication.

  4. [Tara] is always unhappy and has no energy to do anything. She gave birth to a baby girl two months ago. The doctor has told her that she may be suffering from post-natal depression. The doctor discussed her condition with her and then suggested that she could either try some medication or, if she prefers, talk to a counsellor.

  5. [Sarah] visits her doctor regularly because of back pain. She wants and has discussed alternative treatments with her doctor, such as special back exercises, acupuncture, herbs and change in lifestyle. When the pain got worse, the doctor adjusted the medication. He also agreed with her that consulting an alternative health care provider would be appropriate, but she should let him know what types of treatment they gave her.

  6. [Gabriel] has a history of chest pain. He usually goes to the local public hospital for his check-ups. One day he had severe pain in his chest and had to be rushed to a hospital. As soon as he got there, the doctors decided that they had to quickly run tests and take a blood sample. They did not ask for his permission because of the rush and because the tests were not dangerous or painful.

  7. [Bob] broke his arm a few months ago and had to have a series of X-rays. Initially, the doctors told him about his fractures and explained what treatment he was going to receive. On his last visit to the hospital, they gave him some more tests without explaining why they were doing them. After the tests were done, Bob asked what was happening. The doctor explained that the tests were just to check that the bones were growing straight.

  8. [Jasmina] has been feeling physically ill for a long-time. She goes to the hospital and describes her symptoms to the doctor. The doctor listens. Then, without giving any explanation, the doctor refers her to another doctor, who runs a number of tests. After the tests are completed, the doctor gives her pills and asks her to come back in a week. Jasmine was quite happy with not knowing any more details. She didn't want to have to worry about what her treatment was. She just wanted to know whether there were other cheaper medicines she could buy but the doctors didn't talk to her about this.

  9. [Mary] has a serious health problem and knows that she will soon die. Every time she visits her doctor she asks him about her treatment and how much her condition is deteriorating because she wants to know when she will die so she can plan the time she has left with her family. The doctor is reluctant to give her any information that will help her to plan her time with her family, even though she requests it.

  10. [Mohammed] has been very afraid of receiving injections throughout his life. One day, while travelling, he feels feverish and goes to a doctor. After examining him, the doctor does not give him any information about what he has found. The only thing the doctor says is that he will give him an injection for treatment. [Mohammed] tells the doctor that he does not like injections. In response, the doctor says 'do not worry, it will not hurt' and immediately gives the injection in [Mohammed]'s arm.

HIV Self-Protection

Anchoring Vignettes for HIV Self-Protection

Questions:

  1. How easy or difficult is it to protect [name of person/yourself] from getting infected with HIV/AIDS?
Response categories:
  1. Very Easy
  2. Easy
  3. Difficult
  4. Very Difficult

Vignettes:

  1. [Vanessa] is a single girl who had one boyfriend. But she stopped having sex with her boyfriend because he said he didn't want to marry her and refused to use a condom.

  2. [Angela] is unmarried, and she moves around with many men because she cannot say "no" to any man who proposes to have sex with her. Usually these men don't like to use condoms, because they say it's like eating sweets in the wrapper.

  3. [Christopher] is married, but has extramarital partners. He does not use a condom with his wife, but does use them with his extramarital partners.

  4. [Rose] is married to a man who moved around with a girlfriend for many years while they were married. When she found out, she told him to stop seeing the girlfriend or she would divorce him. He stopped.

  5. [Beatrice] caught her husband “red-handed” having sex with a bargirl. She took her case to the tribal chief and said she wanted a divorce because she was afraid of getting HIV/AIDS. The chief said the reason was genuine and that she didn’t have to pay any money for a divorce. [Beatrice] insisted on getting a divorce and returned to her parents’ home to live with her family.

  6. [Mary] tried to get her husband to stop visiting bar girls, but he refused. She said she was afraid that if they caught AIDS, they would die and their children would become orphans and suffer. He agreed with her concern and said that a clever man uses condoms with bargirls.

HIV Self-Protection

Anchoring Vignettes for HIV Self-Protection

Questions:

  1. How easy or difficult is it to protect [name of person/yourself] from getting infected with HIV/AIDS?
Response categories:
  1. Very Easy
  2. Easy
  3. Difficult
  4. Very Difficult

Vignettes:

  1. [Matthew] is concerned about HIV/AIDS, and would like to use a condom with his wife, but his wife refuses to use them because she believes that they can cause TB. He knows that they are safe but still cannot convince his wife to use them.

  2. [Peter] is unmarried, and knows that it is risky to have sex with bar girls, but he can’t control (nature, his desires) so he sometimes goes to bar girls, and he does not use condoms.

  3. [Rose] is married to a man who moved around with a girlfriend for many years while they were married. When she found out, she told him to stop seeing the girlfriend or she would divorce him. He stopped.

  4. [Christopher] is married, but has extramarital partners. He does not use a condom with his wife, but does use them with his extramarital partners.

  5. [Edward] has three wives, and spends most of his time with his third wife, who is much younger than him. Since he does not spend as much time with his first wife, he suspects that she may have a boyfriend.

  6. [Beatrice] caught her husband “red-handed” having sex with a bargirl. She took her case to the tribal chief and said she wanted a divorce because she was afraid of getting HIV/AIDS. The chief said the reason was genuine and that she didn’t have to pay any money for a divorce. [Beatrice] insisted on getting a divorce and returned to her parents’ home to live with her family.

Hearing

Anchoring Vignettes for Hearing

Questions:

  1. How much difficulty did [name of person/you] have in hearing someone talking in a normal voice from across the room?
  2. How much difficulty did [name of person/you] have in hearing what is said in a conversation with some background noise?

Response categories:

  1. None
  2. Mild
  3. Moderate
  4. Severe
  5. Extreme/Cannot Do
Vignettes:
  1. [Kathy] can hear what is said in a conversation with another person in a crowded room. She has no problems hearing a conversation between several people in the same room talking in a normal voice.
  2. [Mary] can talk to one person at a time in a quiet room but struggles to follow the conversation when there are more people or when there is background noise.
  3. [Jeremy] has no problems hearing someone on a one- to-one conversation if the room is quiet. If he is in a room with several people who are talking at the same time, he cannot make out what they are saying and has to repeatedly ask for clarifications.
  4. [Jane] does not hear very well when people speak to her softly or from a distance. She has no problems having a normal conversation when she is near the person and when the level of the sound is slightly louder than usual.
  5. [Sandra] is only able to hear with her right ear. She cannot hear anything with the left. She has no problems hearing what is said to her if the person she is talking to is on her right, and if there is no background noise.
  6. [Paul] has lost hearing in the very high pitches because of his exposure to gun shots during his military training. He hears most sounds clearly except for the very high pitched ones such as birds singing.
  7. [Daniel] is not able to make out what someone says to him in a normal voice from across the room. He is able to
    hear only when the person shouts. He can carry out a conversation with someone next to him.
  8. [Ian] has gradually lost hearing for the higher pitched sounds. He has to ask for repetition often in order to follow a conversation. He is unable to understand people speaking to him from across the room.
  9. [Tamsy] has a constant ringing in her ears. She can only ignore it when there are other noises around. She can carry out a conversation with people.
  10. [Amanda] has diminished hearing in both ears. She has no problems communicating with others in a room if they
    speak in a loud voice. She has no problems watching television when the volume is turned up loud.
  11. [Martha] usually hears sounds, but struggles to hear clearly when there is noise. She has to concentrate hard when she has a conversation in a noisy environment, and often mixes up words that sound similar.
  12. [Marc] has been gradually losing his hearing in one of his ears. He cannot hear normal speech, and can barely hear someone who talks loudly near his ear. He relies heavily on lip reading. He is unable to hear the radio or the phone ringing.
  13. [Jonathan] can hear sounds when they are quite loud but only in a distorted way. He confuses many of the sounds and sometimes has to ask people to write the words down or use gestures. He cannot understand when someone talks to him from across the room.
  14. [Carol] has lost hearing in both ears for low, middle and high pitched sounds. She does not understand speech clearly.
  15. [Patrick] cannot hear any sounds. He has to be very aware of watching what is going on around him in order to do things like crossing a street with traffic or to see if people are trying to talk to him.

Ill Effects of Smoking

Anchoring Vignettes for Smoking

Questions:

Would you say that the ill effects of smoking are presented in a manner that is clear for [you/name of person]?

Response categories:

  1. Completely
  2. Mostly
  3. Moderately
  4. Slightly
  5. Not at All

Vignettes:

  1. [Aisha] goes to see the doctor for a check-up. He asks her a series of question on her life style (if she exercises, eats correctly) and finally asks her if she smokes. She says that she smokes and the doctor tells her that it is a bad habit and that she should stop. He spent an extra ten minutes with her to explain in a very clear yet kind way the dangers to her and her offspring's health.

  2. [Kim] has a cigarette in her hand. She is pregnant. One day she is walking past a poster showing two pictures. The first picture is of a mother carrying a plump baby. The other picture shows a tired women carrying a baby that is underweight. Kim reads the sign "smoking during pregnancy harms the baby".

  3. [Haile] comes home from a day's work and turns on the radio to listen to the news. The news reported on the rise in deaths due to lung cancer in his country from last year and that it was caused by the rise in the numbers of smokers.

  4. [Janis] is at the big athletic event of the year. During half time, there is a commercial heard on the speakers with the following message read by the local athletic hero(heroine). "When I was a teenager, I tried cigarettes a couple of times. I think that if I had not stopped, I would not be here today. I am asking you, our young fans, please don't take up smoking

  5. [Michael] stops at the corner and buys a packet of cigarettes. On the pack of cigarettes, there is a message written in small letters, "Smoking during pregnancy harms the baby".

  6. [Samuel] cannot read or write. Walking on the street, he sees a billboard showing a man smiling and lighting a cigarette. The caption on the board says "Nicotine is a drug and it causes dependence". At the bottom of the billboard there is a non-smoking sign.

Maintaining Regular Activities

Anchoring Vignettes for Regular Activities

Questions:

While [name of person/you] was caring for [person], how much of a problem was it for [name of person/you] to maintain [his/her/your] regular activities, including work, family and community life?

Response categories:

  1. No problem
  2. Mild problem
  3. Moderate
  4. Serious
  5. Extreme

Vignettes:

  1. [Mariko] lives in a small town. Her brother who has mental problems, lives with her. Her brother doesn't get out of the house. [Mariko] has to do all the shopping and won't let him cook or clean because she's afraid that he will hurt himself, so she can not go out like she used to. Since her brother lives with her, Mariko has lost some of her friends because she doesn't have time to see them.

  2. Fatima broke her leg and has been released early from the hospital. She won't be able to take care of her family for two weeks. Her husband, [Ali], had to take two weeks off from work.

  3. [Juanita] has two children. One is in perfect health, the other one needs to be under surveillance all the time. She raises the children by herself but her little town has a service that sends someone for 8 hours a day. She can get 8 hours sleep and do her normal 8 hours a day job as a assistant pharmacist but she can not go out at night or on the weekend because the service does not send someone then.

  4. [Alexander] is very old. He has emphysema (which means he can't breathe properly) and can not walk more than 5 minutes without having to sit down. His wife, Anastasia, is now blind and doesn't move around the house by herself. So Alexander has to do the cooking and help guide her wherever she wants to go. A service comes to pick up Alexander every week so he can do the shopping and stop for an hour at his best friend's place. During that time, a person from the same service stays at home with Anastasia and cleans the apartment.

  5. [Aryana] used to be pretty active in her community until she had to look after her husband, Indu, who had a stroke. Since he could not be left alone, she had to tend to him all the time. She requested assistance from the health services. It was possible for them to send a nurse twice a week to help [Aryana] but this meant her husband could only bath twice a week.

  6. [Raul and Julia's] son is in a wheelchair. He can not eat by himself or wash himself. He is sixteen and weights 80 kilos. Both parents need to be there to lift him from his chair. [Raul] has to miss work to take his son to see the doctor every month and Julia can not get out of the house very often.

  7. Patricia has been bed ridden for the last three years. She lives with her daughter, [Michelle], who has two young children, and takes care of her. [Michelle] has asked the state for some nursing support to help her but was refused. Because her mother needs attention all the time and can not be left alone, [Michelle] has no time to participate in her children's play activities or do other things for herself.

Mobility

Anchoring Vignettes for Mobility

Questions:

  1. Overall in the last 30 days, how much of a problem did [name of person/you] have with moving around?
  2. In the last 30 days, how much difficulty did [name of person/you] have in vigorous activities, such as running 3 km (or equivalent) or cycling?

Response categories:

  1. None
  2. Mild
  3. Moderate
  4. Severe
  5. Extreme/Cannot Do

Vignettes:

  1. [Paul] is an active athlete who runs long distance races of 20 kilometres twice a week and engages in soccer with no problems.
  2. [Mary] has no problems with walking, running or using her hands, arms and legs. She jogs 4 kilometres twice a week.***
  3. [Adriana] is quite active and does sports twice a week, such as tennis or swimming. Once a month, however, she is too tired for sports so takes a three kilometre walk instead.
  4. [Philip] goes walking every day for half an hour, one or two kilometres. He does not practice any strenuous sports as he feels out of breath when he walks very quickly or runs.
  5. [Rob] is able to walk distances of up to 200 metres without any problems but feels tired after walking one kilometre or climbing up more than one flight of stairs. He has no problems with day-to-day physical activities, such as carrying food from the market.***
  6. [Anton] does not exercise. He cannot climb stairs or do other physical activities because he is obese. He is able to carry the groceries and do some light household work.***
  7. [Vincent] has a lot of swelling in his legs due to his health condition. He has to make an effort to walk around his home as his legs feel heavy.***
  8. [Margaret] feels chest pain and gets breathless after walking distances of up to 200 metres, but is able to do so without assistance. Bending and lifting objects such as groceries also causes chest pain.
  9. [Rina] has had a stiff neck for the last 10 days and it makes her move around slowly as any sudden movement causes pain.
  10. [Jenny] is an adult with an intellectual impairment and she is also obese. She struggles to get out of a chair, and moves very slowly.
  11. [Louis] is able to move his arms and legs, but requires assistance in standing up from a chair or walking around the house. Any bending is painful and lifting is impossible.
  12. [David] is paralyzed from the neck down. He is unable to move his arms and legs or to shift body position. He is confined to bed.***
  13. [Sid] suffers from a mental illness and spends his days rocking in a chair. He never moves out of his chair except when physically assisted by another person.
  14. [Gemma] has a brain condition that makes her unable to move. She cannot even move her mouth to speak or smile. She can only blink her eyelids.

*** Included in the final World Health Survey instrument in 2002.

Mobility

Anchoring Vignettes for Mobility

Questions:

  1. Overall, how much of a problem did [name] have with moving around?
  2. How much difficulty did [name of person] have in vigorous activities, such as running 2 miles or cycling?
Response categories:
  1. None
  2. Mild
  3. Moderate
  4. Severe
  5. Extreme

Vignettes:

  1. [Name] is able to walk distances of up to 1/8 mile without any problems but feels tired after walking 1/2 mile or climbing up more than one flight of stairs. He [She] has no problems with day-to-day physical activities, such as carrying food from the market.

  2. [Name] does not exercise. He [She] cannot climb stairs or do other physical activities because he [she] is obese. He [She] is able to carry the groceries and do some light household work.

  3. [Name] has a lot of swelling in his [her] legs due to his health condition. He [She] has to make an effort to walk around his home as his [her] legs feel heavy.

  4. [Name] is able to move his [her] arms and legs, but requires assistance in standing up from a chair or walking around the house. Any bending is painful and lifting is impossible.

Mobility and Affect

Anchoring Vignettes for Mobility and Affect

Questions:

  1. Overall in the last 30 days, how much of a problem did [name of person] have with feeling sad, low, or depressed?
  2. In the last 30 days, how much of a problem did [name of person] have with worry or anxiety?

Response categories:

  1. None
  2. Mild
  3. Moderate
  4. Severe
  5. Extreme
Vignettes:
  1. [Esi] feels nervous and anxious. She worries and thinks negatively about the future, but feels better in the company of people or when doing something that really interests her. When she is alone she tends to feel useless and empty.

  2. [Adjoa] has no problems with walking, running or using her hands, arms and legs. She jogs 4 kilometres twice a week.

  3. [Araba] does not exercise. She cannot climb stairs or do other physical activities because she is obese. She is able to carry the groceries and do some light household work. .

  4. [Ekua] is paralyzed from the neck down. She is unable to move her arms and legs or to shift body position. She is confined to bed.

  5. [Aba] loves life and is happy all the time. She never worries or gets upset about anything and deals with things as they come.

  6. [Efua] is able to walk distances of up to 200 metres without any problems but feels tired after walking one kilometre or climbing up more than one flight nof stairs. She has no problems with day-to-day physical activities, such as carrying food from the market.

  7. [Fatima] has a lot of swelling in her legs due to her health condition. She has to make an effort to walk around her home as her legs feel heavy.

  8. [Mame] has already had five admissions into the hospital because she has attempted suicide twice in the past year and has harmed herself on three other occasions. She is very distressed every day for most of the day, and sees no hope of things ever getting better. She is thinking of trying to end her life again. .

  9. [Comfort] feels depressed most of the time. She weeps frequently and feels hopeless about the future. She feels that she has become a burden on others and that she would be better dead. .

  10. [Giftie] enjoys her work and social activities and is generally satisfied with her life. She gets depressed every 3 weeks for a day or two and loses interest in what she usually enjoys but is able to carry on with her day to day activities.

Pain

Anchoring Vignettes for Pain

Questions:

  1. Overall in the last 30 days, how much of bodily aches or pains did you have?
  2. Overall in the last 30 days, how much pain or discomfort did [name of person/you] have?

Response categories:

  1. None
  2. Mild
  3. Moderate
  4. Severe
  5. Extreme/Cannot Do
Vignettes:
  1. [Tom] is free from any headaches or pains. When he does hard physical labour too he does not get any pains as he has kept himself fit.
  2. [Katie] cannot remember when she last felt pain as this has not happened for the last several years now. She does not experience any pain even after hard physical labor or exercise.***
  3. [Laura] has a headache once a month that is relieved one hour after taking a pill. During the headache she can carry on with her day to day affairs.***
  4. [Catherine] suffers from arthritis that causes stiffness in her wrists and hands but is relieved with low doses of medication. She does not have any pains other than this generalized discomfort.
  5. [Patricia] has a headache once a week that is relieved 3-4 hours after taking a pill. During the headache she has to lie down and cannot do any other tasks.
  6. [Sophie] carries water in a pitcher on her head from the village water supply twice a day. Over the last few weeks she has developed a sore back and struggles to get the pitcher onto her head. She feels this pain while carrying the pitcher.
  7. [James] gets pains across his chest whenever he goes for a strenuous walk (usually two to three times every week). This is relieved after he stops and rests for a few minutes.
  8. [Ken] has a recurring pain in his foot which he feels when he walks for ten minutes or more. He walks to work and back (20 minutes each way) almost every day, but is thinking about taking the bus because of the pain.
  9. [Jeremy] has a constantly dull ache in his shoulders and stiff muscles. This improves somewhat overnight and gets worse again during the day once he gets back to work.
  10. [Phil] has had a hip replacement. He is able to walk around his house but finds it uncomfortable to walk up a street or to do some activities, such as gardening.
  11. [Isabelle] has pain that radiates down her right arm and wrist during her day at work. This is slightly relieved in the evenings when she is no longer working on her computer.***
  12. [Yvonne] has almost constant pain down her whole arm and this prevents her from doing her work in the care assembly line. She may lose her job because of this.
  13. [Jim] has back pain that makes changes in body position very uncomfortable. He is unable to stand or sit for more than half an hour. Medicines decrease the pain a little, but it is there all the time and interferes with his ability to carry out even day to day tasks.
  14. [Mark] has pain in his knees, elbows, wrists and fingers, and the pain is present almost all the time. It gets worse during the first half of the day. Although medication helps, he feels uncomfortable when moving around, holding and lifting things.***
  15. [Steve] has pain in the neck radiating to the arms that is not relieved by any medicines or other treatment. The pain is sharp at all times and keeps him awake most of the night. During the day the pain has made him completely incapacitated. It has necessitated complete confinement to the bed and often makes him think of ending his life.***

*** Included in the final World Health Survey instrument in 2002.

Pain

Anchoring Vignettes for Pain

Questions:

  1. How much was [name of person] limited in the kind or amount of work he/she could do?
Response categories:
  1. None
  2. Mild
  3. Moderate
  4. Severe
  5. Extreme/Cannot Do

Vignettes:

  1. [Katie] occasionally feels back pain at work, but this has not happened for the last several months now. If she feels back pain, it typically lasts only for a few days.

  2. [Catherine] suffers from back pain that causes stiffness in her back especially at work but is relieved with low doses of medication. She does not have any pains other than this generalized discomfort.

  3. [Yvonne] has almost constant pain in her back and this sometimes prevents her from doing her work.

  4. [Jim] has back pain that makes changes in body position while he is working very uncomfortable. He is unable to stand or sit for more than half an hour. Medicines decrease the pain a little, but it is there all the time and interferes with his ability to carry out even day to day tasks at work.

  5. [Mark] has pain in his back and legs, and the pain is present almost all the time. It gets worse while he is working. Although medication helps, he feels uncomfortable when moving around , holding and lifting things at work.

Pain and Personal Relationships

Anchoring Vignettes for Pain and Personal Relationships

Questions:

  1. Overall in the last 30 days, how much of bodily aches or pains did [name of person] have?
  2. In the last 30 days, how much bodily discomfort did [name of person] have?

Response categories:

  1. None
  2. Mild
  3. Moderate
  4. Severe
  5. Extreme
Vignettes:
  1. [Esi] has pain in her knees, elbows, wrists and fingers, and the pain is present almost all the time. It gets worse during the first half of the day. Although medication helps, she feels uncomfortable when moving around, holding and lifting things.

  2. [Adjoa] has difficulty climbing up and down the stairs and walking. She is not able to go out as much as she would like to but has many friends who come and visit her at home. Her friends find her a source of great comfort.

  3. [Araba] suffered a stroke three months ago. Her friends do not come and visit any more as she cannot communicate with them. She is constantly upset and shouts at her family members which causes them to avoid her.

  4. [Ekua] cannot remember when she last felt pain as this has not happened for the last several years now. She does not experience any pain even after hard physical labor or exercise.

  5. [Aba] can join in any community activities that interest her, whenever she wants to, without any restrictions. She gets on well with everybody and enjoys meeting new people.

  6. [Efua] has pain in the neck radiating to the arms that is not relieved by any medicines or other treatment. The pain is sharp at all times and keeps her awake most of the night. During the day the pain has made her completely incapacitated. It has necessitated complete confinement to the bed and often makes her think of ending her life.

  7. [Fatima] gets on well with the people she knows but has no close friends. She has not spoken to her mother in 5 years and does not want to see her. Because of this tension, her family usually excludes her from family gatherings.

  8. [Mame] has a headache once a month that is relieved one hour after taking a pill. During the headache she can carry on with her day to day affairs.

  9. [Comfort] is blind and lives in a remote rural area. Her family does not allow her to leave the house because they fear she will get hurt. Her family tells her that she is a burden to them. Their criticism upsets her and she cries.

  10. [Giftie] has pain that radiates down her right arm and wrist during her day at work. This is slightly relieved in the evenings when she is no longer working on her computer.


Parents

Anchoring Vignettes for School Community Strength: Parents

Question:

How would you grade the relationship among parents at [your child's name]'s school? [Prompt: By relationship I mean how well parents work together to solve problems in the school.]

Response categories:

  1. A
  2. B
  3. C
  4. D
  5. F
Vignettes:

[Introduction]What if the following happened: It's the middle of the year and the principal, who was very popular, unexpectedly quits.

  1. In THIS school, LOTS of parents meet together to find out why the principal quit and to make sure that they have a voice in selecting the next principal. How would you grade the relationship among parents in this school?

  2. In THIS school, SOME parents meet to find out why the principal quit and to make sure that they have a voice in selecting the next principal. How would you grade the relationship among parents in this school?

  3. In THIS school, HARDLY ANY parents meet to find out why the principal quit and to make sure that they have a voice in selecting the next principal. How would you grade the relationship among parents in this school?

Perceived Risk of HIV

Anchoring Vignettes for Perceived Risk of HIV

Questions:

  1. In your opinion, what is the likelihood (chance?) that [name of person is/you are] infected with HIV/AIDS now?
Response categories:
  1. No likelihood
  2. Low
  3. Medium
  4. High

Vignettes:

  1. [Tom] does not have a regular girlfriend, but he visits the local bars often (three times a week) and gives bargirls some money or presents in exchange for sex. Most of the time he uses condoms with the bargirls if he is not too drunk and remembered to bring them.

  2. [Jane]'s husband works in the city for three months every year. While he is there he often goes to bars and gets drunk. Neighbors have told Jane that her husband sometimes sleeps with bar girls, and he does not use condoms with them. [Jane] has had no other sexual partners.

  3. [Edith] is a single girl. She has had sex with three men in her life; she has always used condoms with them. She had sex with each of them once or twice.

  4. [John] is unmarried and has two girlfriends. One lives in his home village and the other in the nearby village. He almost always uses condoms with each partner.

  5. Before [Margaret] got married she had three different boyfriends. With each of them she had sex for about a year; two were young boys from her village and one was an older man whose wife had died after a long illness. Now she is married to a man who also had three partners before marriage but both have remained faithful since their marriage.

  6. [Agnes] is unmarried and has had one other sexual partner before meeting her current boyfriend. Her current boyfriend is one year older than she is. He told her he wants to be monogamous and faithful, and plans to marry her.

  7. [Simon] always used condoms with sexual partners before marriage. He is now married to a woman who is faithful to him, and he claims to have changed his ways and is also faithful.

  8. [Angela] had a baby three months ago. While her husband was away working in the city, the baby died. Her husband moves around with different girls in the city while he is away. When he came back, the elders told [Angela] to bring in fisi before she slept with her husband again. She has never had sex with anyone except her husband and the man who performs fisi for the village women.

Perceived Risk of HIV

Anchoring Vignettes for Perceived Risk of HIV

Questions:

  1. In your opinion, what is the likelihood (chance?) that [name of person is/you are] infected with HIV/AIDS now?
Response categories:
  1. No likelihood
  2. Low
  3. Medium
  4. High

Vignettes:

  1. [Tom] does not have a regular girlfriend, but he visits the local bars often (three times a week) and gives bargirls some money or presents in exchange for sex. Most of the time he uses condoms with the bargirls if he is not too drunk and remembered to bring them.

  2. [Jane]'s husband works in the city for three months every year. While he is there he often goes to bars and gets drunk. Neighbors have told [Jane] that her husband sometimes sleeps with bar girls, and he does not use condoms with them. [Jane] has had no other sexual partners.

  3. [Edith] is a single girl. She has had sex with three men in her life; she has always used condoms with them. She had sex with each of them once or twice.

  4. [John] is unmarried and has two girlfriends. One lives in his home village and the other in the nearby village. He almost always uses condoms with each partner.

  5. Before [Margaret] got married she had three different boyfriends. With each of them she had sex for about a year; two were young boys from her village and one was an older man whose wife had died after a long illness. Now she is married to a man who also had three partners before marriage but both have remained faithful since their marriage.

  6. [Agnes] is unmarried and has had one other sexual partner before meeting her current boyfriend. Her current boyfriend is one year older than she is. He told her he wants to be monogamous and faithful, and plans to marry her.

  7. [Simon] always used condoms with sexual partners before marriage. He is now married to a woman who is faithful to him, and he claims to have changed his ways and is also faithful.

  8. [Angela] had a baby three months ago. While her husband was away working in the city, the baby died. Her husband moves around with different girls in the city while he is away. When he came back, the elders told [Angela] to bring in fisi before she slept with her husband again. She has never had sex with anyone except her husband and the man who performs fisi for the village women.

Personal Relationships / Participation in the Community

Anchoring Vignettes for Personal Relationships / Participation in the Community

Questions:

  1. Overall in the last 30 days, how much difficulty did [name of person/you] have with personal relationships or participation in the community?
  2. In the last 30 days, how much difficulty did [name of person/you] have in dealing with conflicts and tensions with others?

Response categories:

  1. None
  2. Mild
  3. Moderate
  4. Severe
  5. Extreme/Cannot Do

Vignettes:

  1. [Charlie] can join in any community activities that interest him, whenever he wants to, without any restrictions. He gets on well with everybody and enjoys meeting new people.***
  2. [Lorna] lives in a home for intellectually impaired adults. She has a full and active social life with the other members of the institutions. She also works several hours a day. Her family takes her out every weekend on trips and on family occasions.
  3. [Jeremy] plays on a local football team for fun, with practices or games two times a week. Other than that, he finds it difficult to make new friends and generally stays at home with his family.
  4. [Jim] is confined to a wheelchair and lives in a small village where most buildings do not have ramps. Although he has no difficulties leaving his house, and can make friends easily, it is difficult to move freely in and out of public buildings with his wheelchair which limits his going out to public functions.
  5. [Elizabeth] has difficulty climbing up and down the stairs and walking. She is not able to go out as much as she would like to but has many friends who come and visit her at home. Her friends find her a source of great comfort.***
  6. [Diana] has been deaf since childhood and uses sign language with her family and close friends. Since she needs to write things down to get people to understand her she avoids community gatherings. She occasionally gets angry with strangers but is able to quickly control her irritation.
  7. [Sarah] has had a stroke in childhood and struggles to communicate with people outside of her family. She has a close friend who takes her out to the cinema once a month. She's considered odd and gets upset when people do not understand what she's trying to say.
  8. [Rose] is an elderly lady who lives on her own and does not have any relatives. She never leaves the house. Someone does the shopping and cleaning for her once a week. She is easily irritated and upset while talking to her maid.
  9. [Henry] suffers from panic attacks in the presence of crowds and in public places. He feels at ease only in small gatherings with close friends. He avoids getting into arguments as he fears he will have a panic attack.
  10. [Johanna] gets on well with the people she knows but has no close friends. She has not spoken to her mother in 5 years and does not want to see her. Because of this tension, her family usually excludes her from family gatherings.***
  11. [Nobu] is blind and lives in a remote rural area. His family does not allow him to leave the house because they fear he will get hurt. His family tells him that he is a burden to them. Their criticism upsets him and he cries.***
  12. [John] does not feel comfortable interacting with people he does not know or taking part in community events. He does not get on well with his family and always has arguments whenever they meet.
  13. [Mary] only has a close relationship with her caregiver. She has no relationships with anyone else even with members of her family. She tends to avoid people as far as possible.
  14. [Amala] suffered a stroke three months ago. Her friends do not come and visit anymore as Amala cannot communicate with them. She is constantly upset and shouts at her family members which causes them to avoid her.***
  15. [Peter] has been arrested twice in the last year for getting in fights at bars. He does not have any friends and spends his evenings on his own.

*** Included in the final World Health Survey instrument in 2002.

Political Efficacy ("say in government" through elections)

Anchoring Vignettes for Political Efficacy

Question:

How much say [does/do] [name of person/you] have in getting the government to address issues that interest [him/her/you]?

Response categories:

  1. Unlimited Say
  2. A Lot of Say
  3. Some Say
  4. Little Say
  5. No Say at All
Vignettes:
  1. [Alison] lacks clean drinking water. She and her neighbors are supporting an opposition candidate in the forthcoming elections that has promised to address the issue. It appears that so many people in her area feel the same way that the opposition candidate will defeat the incumbent representative.
  2. [Imelda] lacks clean drinking water. She and her neighbors are drawing attention to the issue by collecting signatures on a petition. They plan to present the petition to each of the political parties before the upcoming election.
  3. [Toshiro] lacks clean drinking water. There is a group of local leaders who could do something about the problem, but they have said that industrial development is the most important policy right now instead of clean water.
  4. [Jane] lacks clean drinking water because the government is pursuing an industrial development plan. In the campaign for an upcoming election, an opposition party has promised to address the issue, but she feels it would be futile to vote for the opposition since the government is certain to win.
  5. [Moses] lacks clean drinking water. He would like to change this, but he can't vote, and feels that no one in the government cares about this issue. So he suffers in silence, hoping something will be done in the future.

Political Freedom (freedom of speech)

Anchoring Vignettes for Freedom

Question:

How free do you think [name/you] [is/are] to express [him-her/your]self without fear of government reprisal?

Response categories:

  1. Completely Free
  2. Very Free
  3. Moderately Free
  4. Slightly Free
  5. Not Free at All

Vignettes:

  1. [Kay] does not like many of the government's policies. She frequently publishes her opinion in newspapers, criticizing decisions by officials and calling for change. She sees little reason these actions could lead to government reprisal.
  2. [Michael] disagrees with my of the government's policies. Though he knows criticism is frowned upon, he doesn't believe the government would punish someone for expressing critical views. He makes his opinion known on most issues without regard to who is listening.
  3. [Bob] has political views at odds with the government. He has heard of people occasionally being arrested for speaking out against the government, and government leaders sometimes make political speeches condemning those who criticize. He sometimes writes letters to newspapers about politics, but he is careful not to use his real name.
  4. [Connie] does not like the government's stance on many issues. She has a friend who was arrested for being too openly critical of governmental leaders, and so she avoids voicing her opinions in public places.
  5. [Vito] disagrees with many of the government's policies, and is very careful about whom he says this to, reserving his real opinions for family and close friends only. He knows several men who have been taken away by government officials for saying negative things in public.
  6. [Sonny] lives in fear of being harassed for his political views. Everyone he knows who has spoken out against the government has been arrested or taken away. He never says a word about anything the government does, not even when he is at home alone with his family.

Prevalence of Bribery

Anchoring Vignettes for Prevalence of Bribery

Questions:

  1. How useful is it for you to make informal additional payments to government officials to obtain government services?
Response categories:
  1. Essential
  2. Very Useful
  3. Moderately Useful
  4. Slightly Useful
  5. Not Useful

Vignettes:

  1. [X] needs a building permit. Informal additional payments are an important source of the local government officials' income, and X never had an application accepted without such payment.

  2. [X] needs a building permit. Informal additional payments are welcomed. X usually includes an additional informal payment with his application. When he didn't, his applications were sometimes lost or greatly delayed, and he had to refile.

  3. [X] needs a building permit. Informal additional payments are accepted. X makes such payments, but only if he needs a permit especially quickly.

  4. [X] needs a building permit. No one he knows ever made an informal additional payment. To speed up his application, he tries to pay, but the officials all refuse to accept the payment. They chastise (reprimand/ criticize) him for even trying.

Potential variants: small business license, copy of birth certificate, driver's license.

Principals

Anchoring Vignettes for School Community Strength: Principals

Question:

Talking about your child's school, How would you grade the relationship between the principal and parents in [your child's name]'s school? [Prompt: By relationship, I mean how well does the principal in [your child's name]'s school reach out to keep parents informed about events and problems in the school.

Response categories:

  1. A
  2. B
  3. C
  4. D
  5. F
Vignettes:

[Introduction] Let's consider this situation now: there is a child who routinely disrupts class and gets sent to the principal's office on a regular basis.

  1. At THIS school, the principal calls the parents, follows up with a letter, and ACTIVELY tries to find out the source of the child's behavior problem. How would you grade the relationship BETWEEN THE PRINCIPAL AND THE PARENTS at this school ?

  2. At THIS school, the principal sends a letter home notifying the parents of the problem but DOESN'T DO anything else. How would you grade the relationship between THE PARENTS AND THE PRINCIPAL at this school?

  3. At THIS school, the principal JUST has the child sit in the main office for a few hours and NEVER notifies the parent. How would you grade the relationship between THE PRINCIPAL AND THE PARENTS at this school?

Privacy

Anchoring Vignettes for Privacy

Questions:

Now, how would you rate they way the health services kept [your/name's] personal information confidential and ensured privacy when talking to health care providers?

Response categories:

  1. Very good
  2. Good
  3. Moderate
  4. Very bad
  5. Bad

Vignettes:

  1. [Renée] is suffering from a highly contagious disease. When she was being treated in hospital, the doctor called a meeting with the nurses on the ward, discussing how they were to treat [Renée] so they don't get infected. The nurses were told to keep this information to themselves and the patient's family as it did not affect anyone but the people looking after [Renée].
  2. Dr Johnson treated [Mark] who seemed to be suffering from a rare disease. The doctor saw [Mark] and examined him in his private office. Somehow, perhaps through the doctor consulting with some colleagues about the condition, a journalist heard about the problem. The journalist pressured Dr Johnson to give him more information about the patient but Dr Johnson refused.

  3. [Ken] was feeling very sad, weak and tired at work. He went to the doctor at work. [Ken] confided that he was worried about his health and the effect it would have on his work. The doctor shut the door before [Ken] started talking so they could talk privately. Ken was worried that the doctor would say something to the people at work and this would affect his chance of promotion but the doctor assured him that their discussion was only between the two of them.

  4. [Sarah] recently had a baby. After the birth she started attending sessions at a clinic where she and other mothers would discuss any problems she was having with breast-feeding or just general health problems. The health worker running the sessions told them that all personal matters they discussed were confidential to the group.

  5. [Chandikha] is trying to get a job. As part of his job application, he has a medical examination. The doctor conducted the medical examination in his consultation room. The door to the waiting room was left open and other patients could hear [Chandikha's] response to some of the questions about his health. After the examination, [Chandikha] went home. The doctor finished the medical report and sent it to the company as per the instructions on the form, but he did not discuss this with [Chandikha]. When [Chandikha] phoned that afternoon the doctor told [Chandikha] he sent the report to the company.

  6. [Alioune] went to hospital to consult the doctor about some worrying symptoms he was having and embarrassed about. [Alioune] met some of his acquaintances in the crowded waiting room. When his turn came, Alioune went in the consultation room, and spoke to the doctor. The doctor's consultation room was not far away from the waiting room. While he was talking to the doctor a nurse opened the door to give the doctor messages. Alioune was not sure whether or not it had been possible for the people in the waiting room to overhear his conversation with the doctor.

  7. [Ben] had a high fever. He went to the doctor, who ordered a number of tests. When [Ben] went to get the results, the nurse who attended to [Ben] left the test results on a counter where they were seen by [Ben's] neighbour. The nurse returned, picked up the reports and called [Ben] to the counter to discuss the results within hearing distance of the other people in the waiting room. [Simon] went to the hospital to consult the doctor about some worrying symptoms he was having. He wondered if they were connected with stress at work. The waiting room was very crowded. Simon met a friend and a couple of his neighbours there. The doctor was sitting in a curtained off area at the end of the waiting room. Because of the noise in the room, most of their conversation was drowned out by the background noise but the people nearby could hear what they were saying.

  8. [Paul] visits a nurse at the clinic at his work. The clinic is a small room with a solid door and is staffed by one nurse. The patients line up outside and see the nurse one at a time. [Paul] is worried about a private problem he is embarrassed to discuss with his wife. The nurse finds that Paul is suffering from severe stress. The nurse mentions Paul's visit to a common friend they have and asks this friend to find ways to help [Paul] reduce his stress.

  9. [Alma] went to the village clinic to take an blood test. All the people wanting that test are told to come once a week in the mornings. After having the test done, [Alma] was told to return the next week the same time. Everybody in the village knows each other so they saw he was having the test done. The villagers started speaking to each other about it. [Alma] also found out that the nurse told people about the results before he knew them.

Respect and Physical Privacy

Anchoring Vignettes for Respect/Privacy

Questions:

Overall, how would you rate [name of person/you] experience of being greeted and talked to respectfully and having [his] physical privacy respected ?

Response categories:

  1. Very good
  2. Good
  3. Moderate
  4. Bad
  5. Very bad

Vignettes:

  1. [Conrad] is suffering from a disease. Feeling very weak one day he goes to a clinic. When he enters the doctor's waiting room, a nurse greets him and offers him chair. He is also offered something to drink. He is seen by a doctor, who gives [Conrad] a physical examination behind a small curtain so that no one sees him undress.
  2. [Prem] went to hospital for a week. He had a broken leg and some scratches. He shared a ward with 5 other people. On a usual day, a nurse wakes him in the morning , saying hello and asking how he is. When the nurses change his bandages they draw curtains around the bed so noone can see him.
  3. [Sen] is brought to the hospital, because of sharp stomach pain. Several people attend to her. First someone asks for her name, place of work etc.. Then a nurse comes in to examine her, asking her about her pain. She is examined while lying on a bed. Her examination area is not totally private as there are holes in the curtains. A few steps away, she sees someone lying on another bed.
  4. [Sally] has cancer. She visits a clinic regularly for treatment. The clinic has a waiting room, beyond which are changing and treatment rooms. On arrival, the clinic staff usually greet her and ask her if she would take a seat. She then is asked to undress in the changing room. She changes into a short gown and is led along a short private corridor to the treatment area.
  5. [Anya] took her three-month old baby for her first vaccination. She waited with the other mothers before being seen by a nurse who said hello but did not introduce herself or ask [Anya] her name or the name of her baby.
  6. [Joseph] has a recurring skin problem that is being treated. The doctor he uses sees patients in one room. The doctor sits at a small table at the end of a long room. The last time [Joseph] visited the doctor, the doctor greeted him quickly and then wrote out a prescription for medicine.
  7. [John] goes to the doctor because he has a sharp pain in his legs. The doctor is very busy. When he enters the doctor's office the doctor asks [John] what he can do for him. After listening briefly to [John's] description of his pains but without examination, the doctor says that it is a muscular problem. The doctor then writes him a prescription and calls "next".
  8. [Kim] is the mother of a 6 month old child. [Kim] took her child to the clinic. She didn't know how the clinic worked so she spoke to the first person she saw in nurse uniform. The person told her to go to another room where they see children. When she got there, no one asked her what she wanted, so she spoke to another nurse who told her: "go sit there and wait, we will call you". After a few minutes, the nurse pointed to her and said "come". Without looking at her or the child, the nurse made some notes, and kept on talking to a colleague about something that had happened to a friend of theirs.
  9. [Patricia] uses a nearby clinic regularly. She often has headaches. The nurses there seldom greet her. At her last visit, the nurse said to [Patricia] that she didn't need to come so often; there were sicker people that needed the clinic's attention.
  10. [Patrick] feels pains in his chest and is short of breath. He believes he is having a heart attack. A friend takes him to the closest doctor. On arrival, the doctor asks Patrick to go to a separate consultation area where he meets him and examines Patrick, asking him how he is feeling. After a short examination the doctor smiles, saying there is nothing wrong with Patrick's heart - he must have been imagining things.

Self-Care

Anchoring Vignettes for Self-Care

Questions:

  1. Overall in the last 30 days, how much difficulty did [name of person/you] have with self-care, such as washing or dressing [yourself/himself/herself]?
  2. In the last 30 days, how much difficulty did [name of person/you] have in taking care of and maintaining [your/his/her] general appearance (e.g.grooming, looking neat and tidy etc.)

Response categories:

  1. None
  2. Mild
  3. Moderate
  4. Severe
  5. Extreme/Cannot Do

Vignettes:

  1. [Helena] pays a lot of attention to the way she looks. She requires no assistance with cleanliness, dressing and eating.***
  2. [Sally] can put on clothes without assistance, but needs help with tying her shoelaces because she has a back problem that makes bending down impossible. She looks neat and tidy.
  3. [Jeff] has no problems with cleanliness, dressing and eating. However, he has to wear clothes with special fasteners as joint problems prevent him from buttoning and unbuttoning clothes.
  4. [Peter] can dress himself but does not dress appropriately. He may wear summer clothes to go out on a cold winter�s day or decide to put on several layers of different garments. If not prompted, he does not wash or groom himself.
  5. [Anne] takes twice as long as others to put on and take off clothes, but needs no help with this. Although it requires an effort, she is able to bathe and groom herself, though less frequently than before. She does not require help with feeding.***
  6. [Victor] usually requires no assistance with cleanliness, dressing and eating. He occasionally suffers from back pain and when this happens he needs help with bathing and dressing.***
  7. [Lee] has recently broken his arm and has difficulties getting dressed. He can manage to put on clothes that do not button up but requires assistance with shirts or more complicated type of clothing. He needs help to wash and comb his hair and to brush his teeth.
  8. [Rachel] feels pain and discomfort while washing bathing, and in combing her hair. As a result, she neglects her personal appearance. She needs assistance with putting on and taking off clothes. She does not need assistance with feeding.
  9. [Peter] can wash his face and comb his hair, but cannot wash his whole body without help. He needs assistance with putting clothes on over his head, but can put garments on the lower half of his body. He does not require help with feeding.
  10. [Sandra] lives on her own and has no relatives or friends nearby. Because of her arthritis, she is house-bound. She often stays all day in the same clothes that she has slept in as changing clothes is too painful. A neighbour helps her wash herself.***
  11. [John] needs personal help to wash, groom or dress himself. He gets confused as to what item of clothing must go where, and the different function of items such as a toothbrush and hair brush.
  12. [Jane] requires assistance to eat, wash, dress and take care of her general appearance because she has an intellectual impairment.
  13. [Simon] requires assistance to wash, dress and feed himself. He is not able to make decisions about when he should do these activities.
  14. [Sue] is quadriplegic and must be washed, groomed, dressed and fed by somebody else.***

*** Included in the final World Health Survey instrument in 2002.

Sleep

Anchoring Vignettes for Sleep

Question:

  1. In the last 30 days, how much difficulty do you think [name of person/you] had with sleeping, such as falling asleep, waking up frequently during the night or waking up too early in the morning?
  2. In the last 30 days, how much of a problem did you havedue to not feeling rested and refreshed during the day?

Response categories:

  1. None
  2. Mild
  3. Moderate
  4. Severe
  5. Extreme/Cannot Do

Vignettes:

  1. [Mark] falls asleep every night within five minutes of going to bed. He sleeps soundly during the whole night and wakes up in the morning feeling well-rested.***
  2. [Audrey] usually falls asleep easily and sleeps for 8 hours through the night. She wakes up feeling refreshed.
  3. [Manuel] falls asleep without difficulty at night but on weekdays he wakes up around an hour before his alarm goes off because he feels anxious about what he needs to do that day.
  4. [Jonathan] has no problems falling asleep on most nights, but once a week, he stays up for three to four hours after going to bed. Once he is asleep, he sleeps through the night and wakes up at his usual time.
  5. [Tania] falls asleep every night within 15 minutes, but she wakes up every morning at 4am even though she plans to sleep until 7am.
  6. [Amalia] has no difficulty falling asleep but wakes up two or three times a night and takes 30 minutes each time to fall back asleep.
  7. [Paolo] has no trouble falling asleep at night and does not wake up during the night, but every morning he finds it difficult to wake up. He uses an alarm clock but falls back asleep after the alarm goes off. He is late to work on four out of five days.***
  8. [Noemi] falls asleep easily at night, but two nights a week she wakes up in the middle of the night and cannot go back to sleep for the rest of the night.***
  9. [Natalia] has trouble falling asleep three nights every week. On each occasion, she lies in bed for two hours trying to go to sleep. When she does go to sleep, however, she sleeps through the whole night.
  10. [Tamara] has a cold that gives makes her cough continuously for 5 minutes once or twice a night. The cough wakes her up each time, and she stays awake for half an hour.
  11. [Sandra] is a light sleeper who has awakened by noises from the street outside her apartment. She wakes 10 or more times a night but falls back asleep right away each time.
  12. [Andrea] has nightmares every night. She wakes up in the middle of the night feeling panicked, and she takes two hours to fall back asleep each time.
  13. [Damien] wakes up almost once every hour during the night. When she wakes up in the night, it takes around 15 minutes for her to go back to sleep. In the morning she does not feel well-rested.***
  14. [Jane] is unable to sleep at night and spends the time watching television or reading magazines. She tends to fall asleep around 6am and wakes up around four hours later.
  15. [Daniel] takes about two hours every night to fall asleep. He wakes up once or twice a night feeling panicked and takes more than one hour to fall asleep again. Three to four nights a week he wakes up in the middle of the night and cannot go back to sleep for the rest of the night.***

*** Included in the final World Health Survey instrument in 2002.

Spousal Infidelity

Anchoring Vignettes for Women - Spousal Infidelity

Questions:

  1. During [their/your] time together, did [name of person/you] suspect or know that [her or his/your] [husband/boyfriend or wife/girlfriend] had sexual relations with other [women or men] apart from [her or him/you]?
Response categories:
  1. Yes
  2. Suspect
  3. Can't know
  4. Probably not
  5. No
  6. Don't know

Vignettes:

  1. [Agnes]'s best friend has told her that she thinks Agnes's husband is having sex with another woman in the village. Agnes has noticed that her husband has been away from their home more often than usual over the last two months.

  2. [Patrick]'s girlfriend has refused to have sex with him for the last two weeks.

  3. [Mary] has noticed that her husband is less interested in having sex with her and that he seems to have less money to spend on her and their children.

  4. [Angela]'s husband works in a nearby city for two months every year. He has promised her he is always faithful and his best friend also tells her that he never moves around.

  5. [Mercy] has found condoms in her husband's trousers. He claims that his friend gave them to him.

  6. [Sarah] sees her boyfriend talking to another girl in the village. He says he doesn't like that other girl, but the other girl is very pretty. Sarah has heard that the other girl moves around with other boys.

Spousal Infidelity

Anchoring Vignettes for Women - Spousal Infidelity

Questions:

  1. During [their/your] time together, did [name of person/you] suspect or know that [his or her/your] [wife/girlfriend or husband/boyfriend] had sexual relations with other [men or women] apart from [him or her/you]?
Response categories:
  1. Yes
  2. Suspect
  3. Can't know
  4. Probably not
  5. No
  6. Don't know

Vignettes:

  1. [John] has been married for one year, and his wife has always washed his clothes whenever he asked. However, in the last week when he has asked her to wash clothes, she responds that she is too tired.

  2. [Sarah] sees her boyfriend talking to another girl in the village. He says he doesn’t like that other girl, but the other girl is very pretty. Sarah has heard that the other girl moves around with other boys.

  3. [Patrick]’s girlfriend has refused to have sex with him for the last two weeks.

  4. [Agnes]’s best friend has told her that she thinks Agnes’s husband is having sex with another woman in the village. Agnes has noticed that her husband has been away from their home more often than usual over the last two months.

  5. [Paul] was away in Blantyre for several months, and returned to find that his wife is wearing new, expensive clothes.

  6. [Alfred]’s wife always told him when she was going anywhere even if it was to the nearby market to buy food, but she has recently been going away for a long period of time without telling him. When she returns she says she has been shopping, but she didn’t buy anything.

  7. [Angela]’s husband works in a nearby city for two months every year. He has promised her he is always faithful and his best friend also tells her that he never moves around.

Subjective Economic Welfare

Anchoring Vignettes for Subjective Economic Welfare

Questions:

  1. Imagine a 6-step ladder where on the bottom, the first step, stand the poorest people, and the highest step, the sixth, stand the rich. On which step are you today?

Response categories:

  1. Step 1
  2. Step 2
  3. Step 3
  4. Step 4
  5. Step 5
  6. Step 6
Vignettes:
  1. Vignette 1: Family A can only afford to eat meat on very special occasions. During the winter months, they are able to partially heat only one room of their home. They cannot afford for children to complete their secondary education because the children must work to help support the family. When the children are able to attend school, they must go in old clothing and worn shoes. There is not enough warm clothing for the family during cold months. The family does not own any farmland, only their household vegetable plot.
  2. Vignette 2: Family B can afford to eat meat only once or twice a week. During winter months, they can heat several rooms, but not the entire house. They cannot afford for all their children to complete secondary education. Their clothing is sufficiently warm, but they own only simple garments. In addition to their household vegetable plot, they own a small plot of poor quality farmland that is distant from their home.
  3. Vignette 3: Family C can afford to eat meat everyday. During the winter months, generally they are able to keep their home warm. They can afford for all their children to complete secondary education. They have sufficient clothing to keep warm in the winter. Their everyday clothing is simple, but they also have some fancy items for special occasions. In addition to their household vegetable plot, they have a larger plot of good quality farmland, not too distant from their home.
  4. Vignette 4: Family D can afford to eat whichever foods they would like, including sweets and imported food. During the winter months, they have no problems with heating and are able to keep their entire house warm. They can afford for all of their children to complete their education, and then to continue at a local university. They are able to afford a variety of fancy traditional clothes and also imported brand clothing. The family owns property, including a good car. The family also has a large farm and acts as landlord to others in their area.

Teachers

Anchoring Vignettes for School Community Strength: Teachers

Question:

Going back to [your child's name]'s school, How would you grade the relationship between yourself and [your child's name]'s teacher? [Prompt: By relationship I mean how well does your child's teacher reach out to keep you informed about [your child's name]'s progress in school]

Response categories:

  1. A
  2. B
  3. C
  4. D
  5. F
Vignettes:

[Introduction]Here's another situation. Let's say a child is going to be presented with an award at a special ceremony.

  1. At THIS school, the child's teacher sends a letter home, calls the parents, and does everything possible to ensure that the parents attend the award ceremony. How would you grade the RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN THE TEACHER AND THE CHILD'S PARENTS in this school?

  2. At THIS school, the teacher sends a letter home notifying the parent about the ceremony. How would you grade the RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN THE TEACHER AND THE CHILD'S PARENTS in this school?

  3. At THIS school, the teacher tells the child to invite her parent but does nothing else.

Time and Travel

Anchoring Vignettes for Time

Questions:

Overall, how would you rate the amount of traveling time and the amount of time [name of person/you] waited before being attended to?

Response categories:

  1. Very good
  2. Good
  3. Moderate
  4. Bad
  5. Very bad

Vignettes:

  1. [Carl] goes to the doctor because his child is sick. The doctor says to take the child to the local hospital to stay overnight for observation. The doctor phones the hospital for an ambulance to be sent to fetch the child and his father from the clinic as the child cannot walk. The ambulance arrives in 10 minutes and takes the child and the father immediately to the hospital. They are greeted by hospital staff who put the child on a stretcher and carry him into a ward putting him on a bed. The father then spends about 10 minutes with a hospital nurse giving her their family details.
  2. [Niels] has a kidney disease and has to go to the hospital every month for a check up. He sees his regular physician at a pre-arranged time and can reach the hospital on a local bus within 15 minutes. In the past six months he has had to phone his doctor twice for urgent advice about his medication. At those times he was able to reach his doctor immediately and received the information he required right away.
  3. [Afshan] had an accident where he broke his foot. He needs to have a small operation on his foot and can't walk properly. The doctor is able to get him into an operating theatre the next day. The morning after his operation he is visited by his doctor who checks how he is feeling. He is attended to by nurses regularly during his stay.
  4. [Leila] had pains in her mouth so she visited a dentist. The dentist told her that she needs to have an operation on her teeth and that he would book her in. Her doctor books her into hospital that is about an hour from where she lives. She arrives there in the morning to have her operation. She waits until midday to be admitted.
  5. [Xavier] had a sore stomach and problems eating, so he went to see the doctor in town. It took him about half an hour by bus to get to the town.
    Then he walked a short way to the doctor's consultation rooms, where he waited with a few people for about half an hour to see the doctor.
  6. [Lisa] has difficulty getting to a doctor. One day her child gets ill at school. Lisa has to leave work to get the bus, fetch the child from school and take the child to the doctor. The whole journey is about an hour and a half. When she gets to the doctor, she is able to see the doctor in half an hour.
  7. [Nelson]'s body is in pain and he feels sick. His friend takes him to a local hospital. It takes about an hour to get there because there are lots of people on the road. Once there, they admit him, and put him in a room with 5 other people. He is still feeling terrible and asks for some water, ringing the bell for the nurse. The nurse comes when he calls and brings him some water and pills to make him feel better.
  8. [Karen] needed to have a test at a clinic to see whether she has malaria. They told her the results would be ready in two days. After 2 days the clinic phoned to say she should come to the clinic to get the results. On the way home from work that day, [Karen] stopped by the clinic to get the results. She waited for 10 minutes before seeing a nurse for the results.
  9. [Kofi] had a heart operation last year. He had to go to the city hospital once every 3 months to see his doctor for a check-up. It would take him about one hour to get to the hospital and he'd have to wait on average for most of the morning before having his check up.
  10. Because of an accident, [Evita] goes to the emergency clinic at the local hospital. Her arm is badly broken, and it hurts a lot. She arrives at 8 o'clock in the morning and has to wait for 10 hours in a queue before any health staff talks to her to find out about her problem and treat it.
  11. [Romero] is really sick with tuberculosis. He needs to see his doctor in the primary care centre every month for renewing his prescription. He lives in a village that doesn't have any doctors so he must walk about 2 hours each time to see the doctor. When he gets there, he usually waits for 2 hours before being seen.
  12. [Niels] is feeling tired and sees his doctor. He is informed by the doctor that he needs to go to hospital for a blood transfusion. The doctor says [Niels] will need to go the provincial hospital and see a doctor there before getting admitted. [Niels] leaves the doctor and goes directly to the provincial hospital. He waits there for a few hours before being seen by a doctor. The doctor phones and speaks to someone and then says that [Niels] should come back in two days' time. Two days later [Niels] goes to hospital. He takes a bus in the early morning with his wife. She waits for him to be admitted in the morning. It takes about 2 hours to get admitted.
  13. [Stan] fell down and broke his arm one evening. He was first taken to the local nurse, who decided that he had to be taken by ambulance to the district hospital, a 45 minute drive away. On arrival there, there was no doctor on duty and no-one could be found. He was driven a further 6 hours along some bad roads to get to the next closest hospital. He had to wait for an hour in the hospital for the surgeon to arrive. The surgeon decided an operation was needed but could only schedule a time to operate on Stan in the afternoon.
  14. [Aitor] lives in a small village. He has had backaches for several years. It takes him several hours on foot to reach the local clinic. He walks because there is no other transport. It is always busy and he has to wait usually about 3 hours to see a doctor. At times he leaves after waiting the whole day without seeing a doctor.

Usual Activities

Anchoring Vignettes for Usual Activities

Questions:

Overall in the last 30 days, how much difficulty did [name of person/you] have with work or household activities?

Response categories:

  1. None
  2. Mild
  3. Moderate
  4. Severe
  5. Extreme/Cannot Do
Vignettes:
  1. [John] is a teacher and never misses work. He teaches the senior students for 6 hours each day, prepares lessons and corrects exam papers.
  2. [Andrea] is a nurse who works in a General Hospital. She misses work only one or two days per year. However she suffers from allergies one day per month that make her only half as productive as usual.
  3. [Amanda] suffers from stomach cramps every month. Because of the severe pain, she is unable to go to work for 1 day or two but has no problems catching up with her tasks.
  4. [Matthew] is a clerk in the local government office. He maintains ledgers with no errors and keeps them up to date. However, he ends up not doing any work for one day every 2 weeks because of a headache.
  5. [Marina] is an accountant in the local bank and does not miss work. However, she has periods of anxiety around one day per week, each lasting three to four hours. During these periods, she makes minor errors in the accounts and misses deadlines because she tends to postpone tasks.
  6. [Doris] is a housewife and does most of the cooking and cleaning around the house. About once a week she leaves tasks half done. Her cooking is not as good as before and the house is not as clean as it used to be.
  7. [Dan] is a mason in a building firm. Three to four times per week, he does not complete his daily bricklaying tasks. With help and supervision, he is able to use his skills to finish the walls of the buildings.
  8. [Tania] has been feeling very low. Her concentration at work has deteriorated and she has been making mistakes in her daily work. In the last month, she has not finished her tasks on two occasions and has taken leave for 3 days because she did not get out of bed all day.
  9. [Anthony] is an editor for a national newspaper. In the past month he has come in late nearly every day, and has
    been absent for 3 days.
  10. [Thomas] works as an office clerk. He does not make errors when he is closely supervised. When he is not supervised, he has trouble concentrating and makes calculation errors 5 to 10 times every day.
  11. [Karen] is a teacher and has had to miss work for 2 weeks in the past month. Even now she feels tired and exhausted when she stands for long periods in the classroom. Colleagues notice that she is making serious mistakes in correcting homework and exams.
  12. [John] suffers from bad headaches. He has had to miss two or three days of work every week. He has had to postpone important tasks. He may have lose his job if his work does not improve.
  13. [Carol] is a housewife who leaves most chores around the house half done. Even with domestic help, some
    important tasks are not done in time, such as getting her son ready for school. Her husband has had to take over
    the cooking.
  14. [Sandra] lives on her own and has had an upset stomach for the past 2 weeks. She has not cleaned the house in 2 weeks, has stopped cooking, and needs someone to do the shopping for her.
  15. [Jack] is a clerk at the local post office. He sits around all day without doing any work. He cannot sort letters, manage the counter or interact with customers. His employers are considering replacing him.

Vision

Anchoring Vignettes for Vision

Questions:

  1. In the last 30 days, how much difficulty did you think [name of person/you] have in seeing and recognizing a person she knows across the road ( i.e. from a distance of about 20 meters)?
  2. In the last 30 days, how much difficulty did you think [name of person/you] have in seeing and recognizing an object at arm's length or in reading?

Response categories:

  1. None
  2. Mild
  3. Moderate
  4. Severe
  5. Extreme/Cannot Do

Vignettes:

  1. [Hector] can read words in newspaper articles (and can recognise faces on a postcard size photograph). He can recognize familiar people�s faces all the time and picks out most details in pictures from across 20 metres.***
  2. [Tanya] has no problems with her vision in most tasks in her daily life. While driving she finds it a problem to read road signs clearly.
  3. [Angela] can read words in newspaper articles but has difficulty threading a needle. She can recognize people's faces and pick out details in pictures from across 20 metres quite distinctly.
  4. [Thiam] can read words in newspaper articles and can recognise faces on a postcard size photograph but struggles to read the very small writing on packages. He can recognize people’s faces and picks out most details in pictures from across 20 metres.
  5. [Antonio] can read words in newspaper articles (and can recognise faces on a postcard size photograph). He can recognize shapes and colours from across 20 metres but misses out the fine details.***
  6. [Norman] needs a magnifying glass to read small print and look at details on pictures. He also takes a while to recognize objects if they are too far from him.***
  7. [Jerome] can recognize familiar faces and objects in good light and when they are not too far away from him.
  8. [Nadine] can only see objects that are close to her. She is able to read words in newspaper articles in good light.
  9. [Andrew] cannot read words in newspaper articles (and cannot recognise faces on a postcard size photograph). He does not recognize people's faces from across several metres but can identify faces from close up.
  10. [Jennifer] only reads if the text is in very large print, such as 10 lines per page. Otherwise she does not read anything. Even when people are close to her, she sees them blurred.***
  11. [Carolina] does not recognize people’s faces but can see shapes. She can also detect the presence of a light.
  12. [Paula] can distinguish bright light from total darkness, and can see, large movements right next to her though she cannot recognize the moving objects.
  13. [Sebastian] cannot detect any movement close to the eyes or even the presence of a light.***

*** Included in the final World Health Survey instrument in 2002.

Vision, Sleep and Energy

Anchoring Vignettes for Vision, Sleep and Energy

Questions:

  1. In the last 30 days, how much difficulty did [name of person] have in seeing and recognizing a person she knows across the road (that is, from a distance of about 20 meters)?
  2. In the last 30 days, how much difficulty did [name of person] have in seeing and recognizing an object at arm’s length or in reading?

Response categories:

  1. None
  2. Mild
  3. Moderate
  4. Severe
  5. Extreme
Vignettes:
  1. [Esi] only reads if the text is in very large print, such as 10 lines per page. Otherwise she does not read anything. Even when people are close to her, she sees them blurred.

  2. [Adjoa] has no trouble falling asleep at night and does not wake up during the night, but every morning she finds it difficult to wake up. She uses an alarm clock but falls back asleep after the alarm goes off. She is late to work on four out of five days and feels tired in the mornings.

  3. [Araba] can read words in newspaper articles (and can recognize faces on a postcard size photograph). She can recognize familiar people’s faces all the time and picks out most details in pictures from across 20 metres.

  4. [Ekua] wakes up almost once every hour during the night. When she wakes up in the night, it takes around 15 minutes for her to go back to sleep. In the morning she does not feel well-rested and feels slow and tired all day.

  5. [Aba] takes about two hours every night to fall asleep. She wakes up once or twice a night feeling panicked and takes more than one hour to fall asleep again. Three to four nights a week she wakes up in the middle of the night and cannot go back to sleep for the rest of the night. She is fatigued all day, every day and misses work several times a week. She cannot take part in sports or social activities.

  6. [Efua] needs a magnifying glass to read small print and look at details on pictures. She also takes a while to recognize objects if they are too far from her.

  7. [Fatima] can read words in newspaper articles (and can recognize faces on a postcard size photograph). She can recognize shapes and colours from across 20 metres but misses out the fine details.

  8. [Mame] falls asleep easily at night, but two nights a week she wakes up in the middle of the night and cannot go back to sleep for the rest of the night. On these days she is exhausted at work and cannot concentrate on her job.

  9. [Comfort] cannot detect any movement close to the eyes or even the presence of a light.

  10. [Giftie] falls asleep every night within five minutes of going to bed. She sleeps soundly during the whole night and wakes up in the morning feeling well-rested and feels full of energy all day.



Visits and Contact

Anchoring Vignettes for Visits and Contact

Questions:

Now, overall, how would you rate [your/name's] experience of having the hospital allow visits and contact with relatives and friends, and contact with the outside world when [you/he/she] was staying in the hospital?

Response categories:

  1. Very good
  2. Good
  3. Moderate
  4. Very bad
  5. Bad

Vignettes:

  1. [Carol] had to be in hospital over a long period. The hospital staff were very considerate in allowing her husband to see her and be with her as much as possible. Whenever Carol wanted to contact her family, they would allow her to use the phone.

  2. [Sarah] was in hospital for several weeks. The head nurse of the hospital found out that [Sarah's] husband stayed far away so she arranged a place for him to sleep overnight so that he could visit her more regularly. If [Sarah] wanted to phone someone, there was a public call box she could use in the ward, but it was sometimes out of order.

  3. [Dora] had to stay in hospital for two months when she broke her leg. Her mother could not visit her at all as the visiting hours occurred when she was working. On request, the hospital allowed her mother to visit her at a more convenient hour.

  4. [Asefa] was in hospital over a period of 4 months. His parents visited him almost every day. To assist with his recovery, his parents brought things from home to remind him of his home and they encouraged friends to visit. Sometimes, friends arrived, when Asefa was being examined or cleaned, so they couldn't visit him.

  5. [Tamara] had to recuperate in hospital for two weeks after a bad fall. Her family visited her regularly during the visiting hours, but she was bored during the rest of the day. There was little stimulation provided for her in the hospital. Occasionally, the nurses brought her the daily newspaper.

  6. [Carl and Jane] have a child in hospital. They visit her everyday, but often find it hard to do so during visiting hours because they are working. Although they have inquired, the hospital has done nothing to allow them to visit at another time.

  7. [Sally] was in hospital and her husband could only visit her in the evenings. The hospital staff had told [Sally] and her husband that no children were allowed since they would disturb the other patients. Sally's husband had no-one to look after them in the evenings, so he could not leave them at home. He asked the staff if a nurse could watch the children in the waiting room, but they said it was not possible. This meant that [Sally's] had less visits from her husband.

  8. [Polly] had to be in hospital for a long time after being involved in a car accident. Over that period, she had friends visit her in the visiting hours in the evening. When she was starting to feel better, she was worried about what her work would think of her long absence so she asked her doctor if the doctor would phone [Polly's] employer to inform them fully about her condition. The doctor said that she would ask her assistant to do this in the coming week.

  9. [Penelope] had to stay in hospital for two weeks after undergoing surgery. Her family told her they were shy to visit because even during visiting hours the hospital staff made them feel very unwelcome. Patients were also not allowed personal reading matter in hospital.

  10. [Joseph] had to stay in hospital for ten days after a traffic accident. The nurses asked his family not to visit him, because visitors cause more work for the nurses. When Joseph's elderly mother visited she asked the nurse for an aspirin for her headache. The nurse responded that Joseph was the patient and that she could not help his mother.

Woman's Decision-Making Autonomy

Anchoring Vignettes for Decision-Making - Women's Autonomy

Questions:

  1. How able [is name of person/are you] to make decisions in the household?
Response categories:
  1. Completely able
  2. Somewhat able
  3. A little able
  4. Not able

Vignettes:

  1. [Grace] has three children, two boys and a girl. She does not want any more children, but her husband would like at least one more child. She gets a Depo injection to prevent pregnancy without telling her husband. Her husband is very angry and threatens to beat her, but does not, and lets her continue getting Depo shots.

  2. [Dorothy] wants to use the pill to delay the birth of their next child, but her husband fears that the pill will jeopardize her future fertility and refuses to let her use it. They agree to use traditional methods of childspacing instead.

  3. [Agnes] makes extra-money selling wood and has saved up enough money to buy a radio. She buys it without asking her husband. He doesn't complain because she paid for the radio with her extra money.

  4. [Mercy] says her nine-year-old son is old enough to be initiated but her husband wants to wait another year. They wait another year for their son’s initiation.

  5. [Ruth] wants to marry a boy from Balaka. Her parents want her to stay in school and wait a couple of years before she marries. Her parents agree to let her marry the boy if she waits at least one year. So she waits.

Women's Travel Autonomy

Anchoring Vignettes for Mobility - Women's Autonomy

Questions:

  1. How much power [does name of person/do you] have to travel when and where [name of person/you] want?
Response categories:
  1. A lot
  2. Some
  3. A little
  4. None

Vignettes:

  1. In addition to going to the local market, [Grace] sometimes goes to a larger market in a nearby town, which is about 5 kilometers away. She never asks her husband's permission to go to this market, but he gets suspicious if she goes to the market alone.

  2. [Agnes], who is single, is bored and wants to spend the entire day at a local market where she will meet her friends and socialize. Her parents say she cannot go unless her sister goes with her.

  3. [Jane] wants to visit her parents, who live in another village 20 kilometers away. Her husband agrees, but only if he goes with her.

  4. [Lucy] wants to visit a health clinic to learn about methods of childspacing. She tells her husband that she will be home before dark, but does not tell him where she is going.