The Labor Support Questionnaire: development and psychometric analysis

Every year approximately 4 million women in the United States experience childbirth. This event has been cited as pivotal in a woman's life. Labor support is an important part of this experience since it influences the woman's classification of the birth experience as positive or negative. Therefore, understanding how intrapartum nurses perceive the role of supportive care during labor is paramount. The purpose of this study was to develop a reliable and valid instrument that measures intrapartum nurses' perceptions concerning the importance of professional labor support in their practice. The sample included 146 intrapartum nurses from Texas. Cronbach's alpha, Pearson's r, and descriptive statistics were used for data analysis. Cronbach's alpha for the Labor Support Questionnaire (LSQ) was 0.90. Convergent validity with the Caring Behavior Inventory was .57 (p < .001). Findings indicated beginning support for the reliability and validity of the LSQ. Further development and psychometric testing is recommended to ascertain the dimensionality of the LSQ.