Abstract

FERREIRA, Marlene de Jesus da Silva  and  TEIXEIRA, Zélia de Macedo. Preliminary study of the Portuguese version of the Childbirth Fear Prior to Pregnancy Scale in a sample of university students. Rev. Enf. Ref. [online]. 2020, vol.serV, n.3, pp.1-8. ISSN 0874-0283.  https://doi.org/10.12707/RV20002.

Background: Childbirth is feared by both women and men, leading to increased elective caesarean section rates and medicalization. Although it is most feared during pregnancy, its assessment in non-pregnant populations contributes to an early intervention. Objective: To translate, adapt, and test the psychometric properties of an instrument to measure childbirth fear prior to pregnancy in non-pregnant populations. Methodology: Methodological study, forward-backward translation, and psychometric analysis (reliability and validity) of the Portuguese version of the Childbirth Fear Prior to Pregnancy Scale (EMPAG). Both the EMPAG and the Portuguese version of the 21-item Anxiety, Depression and Stress Scale (EADS-21) were applied. Results: The adapted version of the scale, which was applied to 327 university students, met the criteria of semantic, idiomatic, experiential, and conceptual equivalence and had good internal consistency (a = 0.88) and temporal stability. It consists of 10 items and is explained by 3 factors, without correlation with the EADS-21. Conclusion: The preliminary study of the EMPAG showed good psychometric qualities. It is suggested that the sample should be larger to support the results obtained in this study.

Keywords : fear; parturition; pregnancy; education; psychometrics.

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