Development and Psychometric Properties of the Women’s Recovery of Postnatal Perineal Injuries Questionnaire (WRPPIQ)

Abstract

Background: Recovery of postnatal women with perineal injuries, especially when perineal tearis severe, occurs much later than the healthy women. There is no specific questionnaire to assessthe postnatal recovery in these women. The aim of this study was development and psychometricevaluation of a new tool to measure women’s recovery of postnatal perineal injuries questionnaire(WRPPIQ).Methods: In this validation study, which was conducted based on the method developed by DeVellis(2003), 270 women with postnatal perineal injuries who referred to healthcare centers in Mashhad,Iran, were studied between 2018 and 2020. This method consisted of steps: (1) definition of postnatalrecovery based on in-depth qualitative interview with 22 women, (2) generation of an item pool, (3)selection of the Likert scale, (4) review of the initial item pool, (5) inclusion of items from relevantinstruments, (6) conducting exploratory factor analysis, (7) evaluation of the items, and (8) optimizationof the scale length.Results: The initially generated item pool consisted of 144 items on a 5-point Likert scale, whichreduced to 85 items following face and content validity measurement. The value of the SCVI/Avewas measured 0.901. The conduction of exploratory factor analysis resulted in 33 items and threefactors including evidence of wellness, emotional changes as well as independence and support. TheCronbach’s alpha for the three factors was calculated 0.92, 0.80, and 0.83, respectively.Conclusion: WRPPIQ has validity and reliability to measure the women’s recovery of postnatalperineal injuries in Iran. It is, therefore, recommended that health care providers to assess women’srecovery of postnatal perineal injuries using this newly developed questionnaire.

Keywords

• perineum
• recovery of function
• postnatal care
• validity
• questionnaire