Development and Psychometric Properties of The Delayed Childbearing Questionnaire (DCBQ-55)

Abstract

The comprehensive assessment of delayed childbearing needs a valid and reliable instrument. Therefore, the aim of the present study was to develop an instrument to evaluate factors influencing delayed childbearing among women and to assess its psychometric properties. The current methodological study was performed in two phases of (i) qualitative instrument development, and (ii) quantitative psychometric assessment of the developed instrument. Face and content validity of the instrument was assessed by eligible women and a panel of experts. Construct validity was assessed using the exploratory factor analysis (EFA). For reliability, internal consistency reliability and intra-rater reliability analysis were used. The initial instrument developed from the qualitative phase consisted of 60 items, which were reduced to 55 items after the face and content validity processes. EFA (n = 300) using the Kaiser criteria (Eigenvalues > 1) and the scree plot led to a six-factor solution accounting for 61.24% of the observed variance. The Cronbach’s alpha coefficient, Spearman’s correlation, test–retest and intra-class correlation coefficients for the whole instrument were reported as 0.83, 0.86 and 0.81, respectively. The final instrument entitled the delayed childbearing questionnaire (DCBQ-55) included 50 items with six domains of ‘readiness for childbearing’, ‘stability in the partner relationship’, ‘awareness about the adverse outcomes of pregnancy in advanced maternal age’, ‘attitude toward delayed childbearing’, ‘family support’, and ‘social support’ on a five-point Likert scale. The DCBQ-55 as a simple, valid and reliable instrument can assess factors influencing delayed childbearing. It can be used by reproductive healthcare providers and policy makers to understand factors influencing delayed childbearing and devise appropriate strategies.

Robot Helps When Robot Fits: Examining the Role of Baby Robots in Fertility Promotion

“…China is not alone in confronting a shrinking population. It has been reported that nearly half of the world's population now live in countries with fertility rates at or below replacement level, and nearly all countries will reach low fertility levels in the next two decades [3][4][5]. The long-term low fertility rate will lead to a high level of aging and population decline, which will bring multiple socio-economic challenges [26].…”

“…Declining populations are creating many social problems in countries where this phenomenon is occurring [3][4][5]. To address this issue, some scholars and practitioners have exerted efforts to understand the mechanism of fertility promotion globally [6][7][8][9][10].…”