Electronic Physician (Oct 2016)

Validating the Farsi version of the Pregnancy Worries and Stress Questionnaire (PWSQ): An exploratory factor analysis

  • Fariba Navidpour,
  • Mahrokh Dolatian,
  • Sara Shishehgar,
  • Farideh Yaghmaei,
  • Hamid Alavi Majd,
  • Seyed Saeed Hashemi

DOI
https://doi.org/10.19082/3132
Journal volume & issue
Vol. 8, no. 10
pp. 3132 – 3137

Abstract

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Introduction: Biological, environmental, inter- and intrapersonal changes during the antenatal period can result in anxiety and stress in pregnant women. It is pivotal to identify potential stressors and prevent their foetal and maternal consequences. The present study was conducted to validate and examine the factor structure of the Farsi version of the Pregnancy Worries and Stress Questionnaire (PWSQ). Methods: In 2015, 502 Iranian healthy pregnant women, referred to selected hospitals in Tehran for prenatal care at 8-39 weeks of pregnancy, were recruited through a randomized cluster sampling. The PWSQ was translated into Farsi, and its validity and reliability were examined using exploratory factor analysis by SPSS version 21. Results: The content validity of items on the PWSQ was between 0.63-1. The content validity index for relevance, clarity and simplicity were 0.92, 0.98, and 0.98, respectively, with a mean of 0.94. The Kaiser–Meyer– Olkin measure of sampling adequacy was 0.863. Test–retest reliability showed high internal consistency (α=0.89; p<0.0001) Conclusion: The psychometric evaluation and exploratory factor analysis showed that the translated questionnaire is a valid and reliable tool to identify stress in Iranian pregnant women. Application of the questionnaire can facilitate the diagnosis of stress in pregnant women and assist health care providers in providing timely support and minimizing negative outcomes of stress and anxiety in pregnant women and their infants.

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