Design and psychometric evaluation of the fathers\u2019 fear of childbirth scale: a mixed method study

Seyedeh Fatemeh Ghaffari,Hamid Sharif Nia,Forouzan Elyasi,Zohre Mohammadpoorsaravimozafar,Zohreh Shahhosseini

doi:10.1186/s12884-021-03696-7

Seyedeh Fatemeh Ghaffari, Hamid Sharif Nia + Show 3 more

Open Access

https://doi.org/10.1186/s12884-021-03696-7

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Abstract

BackgroundFear of childbirth is reported in 13% of fathers, and it may have adverse consequences for the fathers’ health as well as their families. To reduce the fear of childbirth in the expectant fathers, an appropriate screening tool is needed. Due to the lack of a valid and reliable questionnaire to measure fathers’ fear of childbirth, this study was conducted to develop the Fathers’ Fear of Childbirth Scale and evaluate its psychometric properties.MethodsThis mixed method study was conducted in two phases. In the qualitative phase (or item generation), semi-structured interviews were conducted with 20 expectant fathers, and a literature review was performed to generate the Fathers’ Fear of Childbirth Scale items pool. In the quantitative phase (or psychometric evaluation), reliability as well as face, content, and construct validity of this scale were evaluated. To establish construct validity, exploratory and confirmatory factor analyses were performed. Reliability was evaluated through internal consistency and composite reliability measures.ResultsThe primary version of Fathers’ Fear of Childbirth Scale contained 32 items, which were reduced to 17 items while establishing construct validity. Exploratory factor analysis extracted two factors, namely fear of childbirth process (12 items) and fear of hospital (5 items). These factors explained 50.82% of the total variance. Goodness of fit indices within the confirmatory factor analysis was acceptable. Internal consistency and composite reliability indices of all the factors were greater than 0.70.ConclusionThe Fathers’ Fear of Childbirth Scale has a suitable validity and reliability for assessing fear of childbirth in fathers. It is a simple report instrument that can be easily implemented by health care professionals.

Highlights

Fear of childbirth is reported in 13% of fathers, and it may have adverse consequences for the fathers’ health as well as their families
Item generation Analysis of the interviews resulted in the development of seven main categories that may lead to fear of childbirth in fathers
The review of literature resulted in six categories in terms of factors may lead to fear of childbirth in the expectant fathers including maternal factors, paternal factors, child-related factors, health care providers factors, birth process factors, and hospitalrelated factors

Summary

Introduction

Fear of childbirth is reported in 13% of fathers, and it may have adverse consequences for the fathers’ health as well as their families. According to the existing literature, severe fear of childbirth has been reported in 13% of fathers and it may have poor consequences for the health of fathers as well as their families [8, 12]. Some of those including cesarean delivery [13], mental and physical problems in the expectant fathers [6, 14], poor support from the pregnant mother [5], impairment of fatherpregnant mother/child relationship [15], and the unpleasant experience of childbirth [8]. Screening the expectant fathers experiencing fear of childbirth requires a valid instrument

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