Persian Translation and Psychometric Testing of the Scales for Measuring Maternal Satisfaction in Normal and Caesarean Birth

• Published in: Biosciences, biotechnology research Asia Vol. 13; no. 1; pp. 339 - 346
• Main Authors: Pakari, Nadieh, Zahrani, Shahnaz, Nasiri, Maliheh, Mahmoodi, Zohrerh
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Bhopal Biosciences Biotechnology Research Asia 31.03.2016
• Subjects: Balances (scales); Birth; Childbirth & labor; Decision making; Factor analysis; Hospitals; Nuclear factor I; Nursing care; Postpartum; Reliability analysis; Reliability aspects; Social security; Womens health; Iran; Turkey
• DOI: 10.13005/bbra/2038
• ISSN: 0973-1245

Childbirth is a crucial experience in women’s life as it has a substantial psychological, emotional and physical impact. A childbirth satisfaction is important to the mother, infant’s health and well-being, and mother–infant relationship. Furthermore, it is useful for the care providers to guarantee the best preparation, health service and support to childbearing women. The present study was conducted to validate and examine the factor structure of the Persian version of the scales for measuring maternal satisfaction in normal and caesarean birth.43-item SMMS –Normal birth and 42-item SMMS- Caesarean birth were first translated by specialists into Persian. The questionnaires’ validity was determined by using face, content, and criterion and construct validity.Reliability of questionnaires was examined by using Cronbach's alpha. Confirmatory factor analysis was performed in LISREL8.8 and SPSS 21.Participants included healthy Iranian postpartum women who refer to selected hospitals for delivery. Hospitals included social security and university hospitals and selected through the random cluster sampling method.The results of validity and reliability assessments of the questionnaires were acceptable. Cronbach’salpha calculated showed a high internal consistency of 0.89 for SMMS-Normal birth and 0.84 for SMMS- Caesarean birth. The confirmatory factor analysis using the c2, CMIN/DF, IFI, CFI, NFI and NNFI indexes showed the 10 factor model to be the best fitted model for explaining the data. The scales are valid and reliable tools for evaluating Iranian women’s experiences in labour and the early postpartum period.