A review of instruments to measure health-related quality of life and well-being among pregnant women

Abstract

Objective: To describe a rapid review of major health-related, electronic bibliographic databases, to identify pregnancy-specific measures of health-related quality of life and well-being. This paper details the range of available instruments, rather than aiming to critique their psychometric properties or indicate problem prevalence. Background: While many instruments are used to measure health and well-being in pregnant women, most are primarily designed for use with a generic population to quantify the presence and magnitude of problems. Few instruments are designed to measure well-being specifically with pregnant women. Methods: A comprehensive search was undertaken to retrieve studies reporting the use of pregnancy-specific instruments to measure health-related quality of life or well-being. The search was conducted on Medline, Cochrane Library and Social Sciences Citation Indexes. Results: 1938 papers were identified and checked for inclusion at title and abstract stage. Eighty-four full papers were obtained for review against inclusion criteria. Thirty-nine papers were selected for inclusion, covering 30 instruments available for use solely with pregnant women. Most of the studies were conducted in Scandinavia or the USA, involved low-risk women, were of cross-sectional design or longitudinal design with data collected across more than one trimester. Conclusion: Most instruments identified in this review were developed for use in non-pregnancy contexts. Those specifically designed for use during pregnancy were infrequently used, apart from the Wijma Delivery Expectancy Questionnaire and the Cambridge Worry Scale. We found limited activity in assessing and measuring the health and well-being of pregnant women to capture positive psychological pregnancy outcomes.

Well-being in high-risk pregnancy: an integrative review

“…In the present study, economic and ecological factors were determined as the antecedents of the well-being concept not as its attributes. Another study defined well-being in low-risk pregnancy as the absence of any illness [69]. However, the present study showed that well-being can also be defined in HRP, where pregnant women suffer from a disorder of illness.…”

Psychometric aspects of the Tilburg Pregnancy Distress Scale: data from the HAPPY study

“…Since its development, the TPDS has been translated into English, Portuguese, Turkish, Spanish, and Bahasa Indonesia (e.g., apik & Pasinlioglu 2015). Morrell et al (2013) emphasized the fact that the TPDS was developed using focus-group interviews as a starting point, and a recent systematic review of self-report questionnaires of anxiety during pregnancy evaluated the TPDS as excellent in terms of its internal consistency and structural validity (Evans et al 2015). However, it was also concluded that data on hypothesis testing and construct validity was insufficient and data on reliability were not reported (Evans et al 2015).…”

Green Space and Physical Activity in Pregnant Women: Evidence From the Growing Up in New Zealand Study

“…[19][20][21][22] Pregnancy is a life phase when there is a greater focus on health and the potential for this focus to lead to improved health. 23 Moderate intensity physical activity during pregnancy is associated with improved mood and self-image; more sleep; more appropriate weight gain; improved muscle tone, strength and endurance; increased energy levels during labor and delivery and more rapid recovery following labor and delivery. 24 Currently there are limited published data investigating the relationship between exposure to green space and the physical activity levels of pregnant women.…”