Abstract
BackgroundBirth satisfaction represents a complex construct of implicit and profound relevance to a woman’s perceived birth experience. It correlates with the childbearing woman’s experience of the quality of care received and stress during labor. This study aimed to examine the psychometric properties of the Malay language version of the Women’s Views of Birth Labour Satisfaction Questionnaire (WOMBLSQ) on labor satisfaction using the Rasch rating scale model.MethodsA cross-sectional study was conducted. The translated Malay version of the WOMBLSQ was completed by 200 postpartum women in a tertiary hospital. The Rasch model was applied to investigate the statistics, unidimensionality, item polarity and misfit, person misfit and person item distribution map.ResultsThe Rasch analysis showed that the 27 items, in nine dimensions, had high item reliability and item separation at 0.98 and 7.65 respectively, while good person reliability and person separation were at 0.78 and 1.90, respectively. Item 6 (‘My birth partner/husband couldn’t have supported me any better’) (outfit MnSq = 1.74, outfit z-std = 6.9, PtMea Corr = − 0.02) and Item 5 (‘My birth partner/husband helped me to understand what was going on when I was in labor’) (outfit MnSq = 1.65, outfit z-std = 2.9, PtMea Corr = 0.13) are misfit. Item 6 needs to be re-examined for removal or rephrasing, while Item 5 correlates poorly with the construct. Eight persons have the most misfitting response strings based on Item 6 but extremely trivial differences were found in the parameter estimates after refitting the model. Ten items easily endorse satisfaction from the respondents.ConclusionThe WOMBLSQ tested among postpartum women has been shown to have a good person reliability index and a high item reliability index. Items 5 and 6 do not contribute in the construction of scale but not degrading and suggested for refining. The spread of item difficulty should be improved in the future modification of items.
Highlights
Birth satisfaction represents a complex construct of implicit and profound relevance to a woman’s perceived birth experience
The aim of this study was to establish the psychometric properties of the Malay version of Women’s Views of Birth Labour Satisfaction Questionnaire (WOMBLSQ) on labor satisfaction using the Rasch rating scale model
A total of 200 postpartum women participated in this study by completing the questionnaire
Summary
Birth satisfaction represents a complex construct of implicit and profound relevance to a woman’s perceived birth experience. Various instruments have been developed to assess women’s satisfaction with labor and childbirth These have all been designed and standardized for groups of English-speaking women, such as the Satisfaction with Antenatal Care Questionnaire, Satisfaction with Intrapartum Care and Satisfaction with Postnatal Care Questionnaire [4], the Maternal Satisfaction Questionnaire [5], and the Women’s Views of Birth Labour Satisfaction Questionnaire (WOMBLSQ) [6]. These questionnaires assess the woman’s satisfaction with childbirth as a multidimensional construct, with each dimension including various aspects relevant to measuring satisfaction [7]. It can be utilized to compare and contrast satisfaction with different models of care or configurations of services or to assess changes over time [8]
Sign-in/Register to view highlights & summary Sign-in/Register to access full text options 
Free) 
Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Schedule a call
