Evaluation of the French Version of the Multidimensional Scale of Perceived Social Support During the Postpartum Period

Abstract

In the presence of physical and psychological disturbances in the postpartum period, perceived social support is often regarded as a protective factor in women's mental health. This work evaluates the psychometric properties of the French version of a questionnaire widely used internationally to measure perceived social support, which has not been yet validated in French: the Multidimensional Scale of Perceived Social Support (MSPSS). This study collected data from 148 women (30.5 ± 5.12 years) who agreed to complete the MSPSS and a scale assessing symptoms of postpartum depression (Edinburgh Post-Natal Depression Scale, EPDS) 1 and 4 months after childbirth. The results confirm the original three-factor structure of the scale. The Cronbach's alpha coefficients are excellent. The total scale score is correlated with all three dimensions and a significantly negative correlation is found between MSPSS and EPDS. The results suggest that the French tool has generally good internal reliability. The MSPSS can provide useful data helping to identify French-speaking people at risk for negative feelings (e.g., mood disorders of perinatal period).

Psychological consequences of COVID-19 pandemic in Italian MS patients: signs of resilience?

“…Moreover, men showed a trend of higher state-anxiety levels at T1; this may be due to either a non-signi cant improvement in sexual satisfaction subscale or to higher females levels of anxiety at T0 [21], limiting them to further worse their anxiety within a short time frame. According to our survey, being at home and being more able to spend time and interact with their partners (58 out of 67 of our patients lived with a partner) and family members may have led to a higher perceived social support, having a positive impact on sexual satisfaction and mood, in line with previous studies [30][31][32][33]. Furthermore, several pwMS experience frustration, anger and other negative emotions because, compared to their healthy peers, they have more limitations in engaging in outdoor activities such as shopping, driving, participating at social and sporting activities [34].…”

Individuals’ quality of life linked to major life events, perceived social support, and personality traits

“…The test-retest reliability over a time period of 2-3 months was .85 for the total scores [16]. The internal consistency of the French version is quite satisfactory both in terms of total score (α = .92) as well as for each of the three sub-dimensions (α = .94 for the family dimension; α = .91 for the friends dimension and α = .92 for the significant others dimension) [32].…”

A systematic review of the psychometric properties of the cross-cultural translations and adaptations of the Multidimensional Perceived Social Support Scale (MSPSS)

“…Social support (SS) is an essential buffer to stressful life events [ 1 – 13 ]. An adequate amount of SS improves mental health by mitigating the effects of negative psychosocial outcomes such as depression, anxiety, low self-efficacy, stress and loneliness or social isolation [ 1 , 3 , 4 , 6 , 9 , 14 – 16 ]. Further, SS is a multidimensional, latent variable that dependents upon an individual’s politico-social environment, socialization process and personal values/ethos amongst other factors [ 1 , 3 , 10 – 12 , 17 , 18 ].…”

“…To this end, the MSPSS has undergone extensive translation and adaption across linguistic and socio-economic contexts and settings i.e. from low- [ 7 , 13 , 26 ] and middle [ 11 , 18 , 27 – 29 ] to high-income countries [ 3 , 6 , 9 , 17 , 18 , 30 – 34 ]. However, evidence of the psychometric properties of the translated and adapted versions of the MSPSS is fragmented, but deeply important to both clinical practice and research.…”