Development of the knowledge of exercise during pregnancy scale

Abstract

Objective: Benefits of exercise in pregnancy on maternal and fetal health are well-documented, whereas physical activity participation and knowledge of exercise during pregnancy are limited among pregnant women. This research purposed to develop a tool to measure knowledge of exercise during pregnancy. Material and Methods: This is a methodological study. After review of the literature, a pool of items was created. These items were regulated into a Likert-type scale. The content validity of the 27-item pilot-scale was assessed by expert review. The pilot-scale was applied online to women aged over 18 years with a history of at least one full-term live delivery. After the pilot application, validity and reliability were analyzed. Results: The content validity ratios (CVR) of items were between 0.500-0.900, and the content validity index (CVI) of the scale was 0.690. The scale underwent item analysis for reliability, and factor analysis for validity assessment. Subsequently, a total of 15 items were removed due to increasing Cronbach's alpha coefficient (k=10) and if having a communality value below 0.30 in the extraction column of the communalities table (k=5). The remaining 12 items were collected under a single factor with an eigenvalue of 5.731 that explained 47.8% of the variance. The scale was found to be highly reliable (Cronbach's alpha 0.894, Spearman-Brown split-half reliability coefficient 0.796, Guttman split-half reliability coefficient 0.792). The confirmatory factor analysis indicated good fit for the 12-item scale. Conclusions: The newly developed 12-item Knowledge of Exercise during Pregnancy Scale is valid and reliable for use with Turkish women to assess knowledge of exercise during pregnancy.