Spanish validation and factor structure of the Prenatal Distress Questionnaire Revised (NuPDQ)

Abstract

ABSTRACT Background: Due to an absence of maternal stress being measured in routine prenatal care by clinicians, prenatal stress has become a serious problem which is associated with poorer obstetric outcomes, as well as worse maternal and infant health. For that reason, the aim of this study was the translation, validation and adaptation of Prenatal Distress Questionnaire Revised (NuPDQ) in a Spanish sample. Methods: Three-hundred and seventy-one pregnant women were assessed using the NuPDQ, the Prenatal Distress Questionnaire, Perceived Stress Scale and the Connor–Davidson Resilience Scale. The NuPDQ was translated into Spanish by the backtranslation method and administered to participants. Results: A confirmatory factor analysis revealed the established unidimensional structure to be a poor fit to data with the Spanish version. An exploratory factor analysis suggested a five-factor structure with 14 items. The instrument had good reliability, convergent and discriminant validity psychometric properties. Conclusions: The five-factor 14-item NuPDQ is useful to assess pregnancy-specific stress in Spanish pregnant women. It may be appropriate to use this instrument in order to identify pregnant women with high pregnancy-specific stress to try to prevent negative consequences derived from those high levels.