Translation of the Weight-Related Behaviours Questionnaire into a Short-Form Psychosocial Assessment Tool for the Detection of Women at Risk of Excessive Gestational Weight Gain

Abstract

The identification and measurement of psychosocial factors that are specific to pregnancy and relevant to gestational weight gain is a challenging task. Given the general lack of availability of pregnancy-specific psychosocial assessment instruments, the aim of this study was to develop a short-form psychosocial assessment tool for the detection of women at risk of excessive gestational weight gain with research and clinical practice applications. A staged scale reduction analysis of the weight-related behaviours questionnaire was conducted amongst a sample of 159 Australian pregnant women participating in the Women and Their Children’s Health (WATCH) pregnancy cohort study. Exploratory factor analysis, univariate logistic regression, and item response theory techniques were used to derive the minimum and most predictive questions for inclusion in the short-form assessment tool. Of the total 49 questionnaire items, 11 items, all 4 body image items, n = 4 attitudes towards weight gain, and n = 3 self-efficacy items, were retained as the strongest predictors of excessive gestational weight gain. These within-scale items were highly correlated, exhibiting high item information function value statistics, and were observed to have high probability (p < 0.05) for excessive gestational weight gain, in the univariate analysis. The short-form questionnaire may assist with the development of tailored health promotion interventions to support women psychologically and physiologically to optimise their pregnancy weight gain. Confirmatory factor analysis is now required.

The influence of disordered eating and social media’s portrayals of pregnancy on young women’s attitudes toward pregnancy

“…Additionally, contrary to our hypothesis, we found that young women with higher levels of DE thoughts had more positive attitudes toward gestational weight gain. This is unexpected as we expected that women with significant preoccupations with food and eating would be less accepting of weight gain, even during pregnancy [ 24 ]. A possible explanation for this could be that young women who are preoccupied with their weight, body shape, and eating habits would not feel as pressured to avoid gaining weight if they were to become pregnant.…”

“…The Weight-Related Behaviors Questionnaire (WRB-Q) is a validated measure used to assess pregnancy-related factors that affect weight gain and retention during and after pregnancy [ 27 ]. The original measure contains 49 items, however we used the short-form 12 item questionnaire called the Gestational Weight Gain Psychosocial Risk Assessment Tool to look for women that are at risk for gaining excessive weight during pregnancy [ 24 ]. The adapted questionnaire was split into three subscales: Self-Efficacy, Attitudes Toward Weight Gain, and Body Image.…”

“…However, women’s attitudes toward potential pregnancies are much more complex than just intending to be or not intending to be pregnant [ 23 ]. There are additional variables that contribute to attitudes toward a potential pregnancy, such as feelings about gaining weight during pregnancy (gestational weight gain), confidence regarding one’s ability to create and maintain healthy eating habits throughout pregnancy, and pre-pregnancy weight satisfaction [ 24 ]. Given that young women are more susceptible to DE [ 1 , 6 ] and are frequent consumers of social media [ 4 ], the cumulative impact of modified social media images along with DE can be detrimental.…”