Psychometric properties of the childbirth fear prior to pregnancy scale in Iranian women

Fear of childbirth is a psychological issue that can lead to both short-term and long-term effects. It can originate before pregnancy and persist through delivery. Given the negative impact of childbirth fear and the lack of a standardized tool in Iran for assessing childbirth fear prior to pregnancy (CFPP), this study aimed to translate and validate this scale for Iranian women.

In this cross-sectional study, the instrument was translated from English into Persian using the backward–forward method. A total of 200 married, nulligravid women were recruited through simple random sampling from health centers in Tabriz-Iran. The instrument’s validity was assessed in terms of face validity, content validity (CVI and CVR), and construct validity (using exploratory and confirmatory factor analyses).

Internal consistency was measured using Cronbach’s alpha in a sample of 20 women. Test–retest stability was determined by calculating the intra-class correlation coefficient (ICC) among the same women who completed the questionnaire twice, with a two-week interval. The final scale, which includes one factor and ten items, showed acceptable face validity (mean impact score = 3.98) and excellent content validity (Scale-CVI = 1, CVR = 0.99).

All items had factor loadings above 0.7. Confirmatory factor analysis indicated a good model fit (χ2/df = 2.48, RNI = 0.97, RMSEA = 0.07). Cronbach’s alpha was 0.96, and the ICC (95% confidence interval) was 0.96 (0.95 to 0.97).

The Persian version of CFPP can serve as a valid and reliable tool for assessing fear of childbirth before pregnancy. We sincerely thank the staff of Tabriz’s healthcare centers and also Clinical Research Development Unit of Al-zahra Hospital in Tabriz, Iran, for their collaboration on this study. This study was funded by Tabriz University of Medical Sciences in Tabriz, Iran (Code: IR.TBZMED.REC.1403.451).

Social Determinants of Health Research Center, Tabriz University of Medical Sciences, Tabriz, Iran Midwifery Department, Tabriz University of Medical Sciences, Tabriz, Iran Zahra Alivand, Shokoufe Mousavi, Poonak Shariatzadeh & Khadije Hajizadeh The authors declare no competing interests. This study was approved the Ethics Committee of Tabriz University of Medical Sciences (code: IR.TBZMED.REC.1403.451). Written informed consent was obtained from each participant.