Quality of prenatal care questionnaire: psychometric testing in an Australia population

Abstract

BackgroundThe quality of antenatal care is recognized as critical to the effectiveness of care in optimizing maternal and child health outcomes. However, research has been hindered by the lack of a theoretically-grounded and psychometrically sound instrument to assess the quality of antenatal care. In response to this need, the 46-item Quality of Prenatal Care Questionnaire (QPCQ) was developed and tested in a Canadian context. The objective of this study was to validate the QPCQ and to establish its internal consistency reliability in an Australian population.MethodsStudy participants were recruited from two public maternity services in two Australian states: Monash Health, Victoria and Wollongong Hospital, New South Wales. Women were eligible to participate if they had given birth to a single live infant, were 18 years or older, had at least three antenatal visits during the pregnancy, and could speak, read and write English. Study questionnaires were completed in hospital. A confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) was conducted. Construct validity, including convergent validity, was further assessed against existing questionnaires: the Patient Expectations and Satisfaction with Prenatal Care (PESPC) and the Prenatal Interpersonal Processes of Care (PIPC). Internal consistency reliability of the QPCQ and each of its six subscales was assessed using Cronbach’s alpha.ResultsTwo hundred and ninety-nine women participated in the study. CFA verified and confirmed the six factors (subscales) of the QPCQ. A hypothesis-testing approach and an assessment of convergent validity further supported construct validity of the instrument. The QPCQ had acceptable internal consistency reliability (Cronbach’s alpha = 0.97), as did each of the six factors (Cronbach’s alpha = 0.74 to 0.95).ConclusionsThe QPCQ is a valid and reliable self-report measure of antenatal care quality. This instrument fills a scientific gap and can be used in research to examine relationships between the quality of antenatal care and outcomes of interest, and to examine variations in antenatal care quality. It also will be useful in quality assurance and improvement initiatives.

Quality of Antenatal Care: Comparison between Secondary and Tertiary Health Facilities in Ibadan, Nigeria

“…The overall quality of care received by the women in this study is high with relatively high mean subscale scores of the QPC factors which are similar to that reported by Sword et al, in Australia using the QPCQ [15]. Predictors of high QPC were found to be "availability" and "support and respect" by the health care workers.…”

Caracterização Da Infraestrutura E Do Processo De Trabalho Na Assistência Ao Pré-Natal

“…De fato, o acompanhamento pré-natal é fundamental para detecção precoce de intercorrências para o tratamento adequado com a otimização de resultados de saúde materna e infantil (7) . Para potencializar essa dimensão deve se estabelecer parâmetros de avaliação da qualidade da assistência ao processo gestacional, o que proporcionaria melhor entendimento dos aspectos que interatuam e problematizam essa dinâmica.…”

Optimizing Gestational Weight Gain With the Eating4Two Smartphone App: Protocol for a Randomized Controlled Trial

“…Four to six weeks after the participant’s due date, they will be sent an email containing a link to a Web-based questionnaire in Qualtrics assessing quality of perinatal care. The Quality Perinatal Care Questionnaire is a 46-item instrument with 6 validated subscales originally developed in Canada and validated in an Australian population [ 42 ]. This email will also contain an invitation to participate in a focus group or individual interview.…”