The Spanish version of the Mothers' Postnatal Sense of Security Scale: Psychometric properties and predictive utility

Abstract

Postnatal sense of security is a relevant construct related to several variables of motherhood. However, it has not yet been studied in the Spanish context. The aims were: (a) To analyze the psychometric properties of a Spanish version of the Mothers' Postnatal Sense of Security Scale (PPSS-S); (b) analyze the factors related to mothers' sense of security during the first 2 weeks following childbirth (sociodemographic variables and factors related to maternity); and (c) examine the predictive utility that mothers' sense of security has on symptoms of postpartum depression 6-11 months after childbirth. This was a prospective longitudinal study performed in the first 6-11 months post-partum in four regions of Spain. A total of 928 mothers whose mean age was 33.67 years (standard deviation = 4.54) partici

Postnatal mental health during the COVID-19 pandemic: Impact on mothers’ postnatal sense of security and on mother-to-infant bonding

“…Indeed, mothers in both samples reached on average the same score of emotional security and overall, felt secure in their first postnatal week. These scores are in line with previous studies using the PPSSi to evaluate maternal sense of security in non-crisis settings and in other cultural contexts ( Persson et al, 2007 ; Escribano et al, 2020 ).…”

“…In this study, internal consistency was similar at both data collection periods (Sample 1: α=0.85; Sample 2: α=0.86). The mothers’ questionnaire has been validated in other cultural contexts ( Geçkil et al, 2017 ; Escribano et al, 2020 a). The instrument has four subscales: 1) empowerment - which refers to the empowering and caring attitude of midwives and nurses towards the mother.…”

“…Lack of security in early postpartum might predispose mothers to higher risk of mental distress, including postnatal anxiety and depression ( Persson and Kvist, 2014 ; Escribano et al, 2020 a; Schaming and Wendland, 2021 ). Anxiety and depression can be markers of insecurity ( Persson and Kvist, 2014 ).…”

Factors Associated with Parents’ Postnatal Sense of Security in China: A Cross-sectional Study

“…This study aimed to describe the status quo of Chinese parents' postnatal sense of security and identify its influencing factors. After the score was linearly converted to 100 points, the average score of the mothers' version was 82.87, and 82.52 for the fathers' version, indicating that the parents' postnatal sense of security is at upper-middle level, consistent with the results in Sweden [3] and Spain [22,23]. Among the four dimensions of PPSS, mothers and fathers both had the lowest scores on the dimensions of the sense of the physical and psychological conditions, while the scores of a sense of affinity within the family were the highest, which reflects that the main source of parents' postnatal sense of security is the support and help from family members, especially from their partners.…”

“…Parenting confidence is an important influencing factor of fathers' postnatal sense of security. For fathers, the sense of participation is very important to sense of the security [3,22]. Fathers assume their responsibilities by showing their interest and participating in the whole process of pregnancy, childbirth, and postpartum.…”