Quality of prenatal care questionnaire: psychometric testing in an Australia population.

Amanda Bradford-Janke,Mary Anne Biro,Wendy Sword,Jane Yelland,Noori Akhtar-Danesh,Caroline Homer,Maureen Heaman

doi:10.1186/s12884-015-0644-7

Abstract

BackgroundThe quality of antenatal care is recognized as critical to the effectiveness of care in optimizing maternal and child health outcomes. However, research has been hindered by the lack of a theoretically-grounded and psychometrically sound instrument to assess the quality of antenatal care. In response to this need, the 46-item Quality of Prenatal Care Questionnaire (QPCQ) was developed and tested in a Canadian context. The objective of this study was to validate the QPCQ and to establish its internal consistency reliability in an Australian population.MethodsStudy participants were recruited from two public maternity services in two Australian states: Monash Health, Victoria and Wollongong Hospital, New South Wales. Women were eligible to participate if they had given birth to a single live infant, were 18 years or older, had at least three antenatal visits during the pregnancy, and could speak, read and write English. Study questionnaires were completed in hospital. A confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) was conducted. Construct validity, including convergent validity, was further assessed against existing questionnaires: the Patient Expectations and Satisfaction with Prenatal Care (PESPC) and the Prenatal Interpersonal Processes of Care (PIPC). Internal consistency reliability of the QPCQ and each of its six subscales was assessed using Cronbach’s alpha.ResultsTwo hundred and ninety-nine women participated in the study. CFA verified and confirmed the six factors (subscales) of the QPCQ. A hypothesis-testing approach and an assessment of convergent validity further supported construct validity of the instrument. The QPCQ had acceptable internal consistency reliability (Cronbach’s alpha = 0.97), as did each of the six factors (Cronbach’s alpha = 0.74 to 0.95).ConclusionsThe QPCQ is a valid and reliable self-report measure of antenatal care quality. This instrument fills a scientific gap and can be used in research to examine relationships between the quality of antenatal care and outcomes of interest, and to examine variations in antenatal care quality. It also will be useful in quality assurance and improvement initiatives.

Highlights

The quality of antenatal care is recognized as critical to the effectiveness of care in optimizing maternal and child health outcomes
70 % of antenatal care is offered through the public system and funded through public insurance, which is accessible to all (Medicare)
The 46-item Quality of Prenatal Care Questionnaire (QPCQ) and each of the six subscales were validated through confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) in an Australian population

Summary

Introduction

The quality of antenatal care is recognized as critical to the effectiveness of care in optimizing maternal and child health outcomes. Research has been hindered by the lack of a theoretically-grounded and psychometrically sound instrument to assess the quality of antenatal care. In response to this need, the 46-item Quality of Prenatal Care Questionnaire (QPCQ) was developed and tested in a Canadian context. The literature on quality in antenatal care addresses both the structural and process elements in Donabedian’s model. Other aspects of structure that are viewed as impacting quality of care are wait times [5, 6], the physical setting (e.g., cleanliness, ventilation, privacy) [5, 6, 8, 9], and staff and care provider characteristics (e.g., clinical knowledge and skills, efficiency) [5,6,7,8,9]. Interpersonal care processes that contribute to quality antenatal include: listening carefully and understanding [7, 8, 12]; showing respect [5,6,7,8,9, 12, 13]; adequate time with care provider [6, 8, 9, 12]; approachable interpersonal style [8, 13]; emotional support [8, 13]; and cultural sensitivity and competence [6,7,8]

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