Original scientific paper

Development and validation of Pregnancy Concerns Scale

Sandra Nakić Radoš orcid.org/0000-0002-8330-8427 ; Catholic University of Croatia, Zagreb, Croatia
Meri Tadinac orcid.org/0000-0002-3770-9000 ; Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences, University of Zagreb, Zagreb, Croatia
Radoslav Herman ; University of Applied Health Studies, Zagreb, Croatia

Abstract

State anxiety and pregnancy-specific anxiety are related albeit distinct constructs. Therefore, pregnancy-specific anxiety should be assessed with pregnancy-specific measures. The aim of the study was to construct and validate a new scale, Pregnancy Concerns Scale (PCS) that measures specific worries, fears and concerns during pregnancy. Pregnant women in the third trimester of pregnancy (N = 384) completed the PCS, the State-Trait Anxiety Inventory (STAI), the Perceived Stress Scale (PSS), and the Edinburgh Postnatal Depression Scale (EPDS). Reliability, factor structure, convergent
and discriminant validity, and scale sensitivity and specificity were analyzed. The final scale comprised 16 items and four subscales measuring Concerns about fetal health, Concerns about own health and childbirth, Concerns about financial issues and close relations, and Concerns about appearance. Reliability of the PCS total scale is
0.80. At a cut-off score of 5/6, sensitivity was 80.8% and specificity 50.4%. Convergent validity analysis showed the PCS to be an independent measure of pregnancyspecific anxiety that can discriminate between pregnant women with and without pregnancy
complications. To conclude, the PCS has high reliability and construct validity, and satisfactory psychometric characteristics.

Keywords

anxiety; pregnancy; scale; validity

Hrčak ID:

169737

URI

https://hrcak.srce.hr/169737

Publication date:

21.12.2015.

Article data in other languages: croatian

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