Abstract
PurposeThe purpose of this study was to develop and test the validity and reliability of the Korean version of the Perinatal Infant Care Social Support (K-PICSS) for postpartum mothers.MethodsThis study used a cross-sectional design. The K-PICSS was developed through forward-backward translation. Online survey data were collected from 284 Korean mothers with infants 1-2 months of age. The 19-item K-PICSS consists of functional and structural domains. The functional domain of social support measures infant care practices of postpartum mothers. Exploratory factor analysis (EFA) and known-group comparison were used to verify the construct validity of the K-PICSS. Social support and postpartum depression were also measured to test criterion validity. Psychometric testing was not applicable to the structural social support domain.ResultsThe average age of mothers was 32.76±3.34 years, and they had been married for 38.45±29.48 months. Construct validity was supported by the results of EFA, which confirmed a three-factor structure of the scale (informational support, supporting presence, and practical support). Significant correlations of the K-PICSS with social support (r=.71, p<.001) and depression (r=–.40, p<.001) were found. The K-PICSS showed reliable internal consistency, with Cronbach’s α values of .90 overall and .82–.83 in the three subscales. The vast majority of respondents reported that their husband or their parents were their main sources of support for infant care. ConclusionThis study demonstrates that the K-PICSS has satisfactory construct validity and reliability to measure infant care social support in Korea.
Highlights
The early stages following childbirth involve postpartum care for mothers’ physical recovery, as well as the process of acquiring parental roles and converting to a different family structure [1]
This study translated the Perinatal Infant Care Social Support (PICSS) into Korean to measure the level of social support necessary for mothers’ infant care and tested its reliability and validity in a sample of mothers caring for infants 1 to 2 months of age
Exploratory factor analysis confirmed that functional social support had a three-factor solution: practical support, informational support, and supporting presence
Summary
The early stages following childbirth involve postpartum care for mothers’ physical recovery, as well as the process of acquiring parental roles and converting to a different family structure [1]. Mercer [2] proposed adopting “becoming a mother” as a process-focused phrase and retiring the phrase “maternal role attainment,” and suggested that social support serves as an important resource to facilitate the transition to parenthood. The social support necessary for mothers is defined as the actual amount of help provided for support needs, the degree to which they are satisfied with the help, and the number of people or support resources providing help [2]. Structural social support refers to a social network that can meet the mother’s support needs, consisting of an official network including healthcare providers and an informal network including the mother’s husband, family, and friends [3]. Functional social support refers to the amount of support for each function of social support (e.g., direct help, provision of necessary information, emotional empathy, and positive evaluation) required by
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