Revalidation of the postpartum stress scale

Area of Science:

• Psychological health
• Sociology
• Women's health

Background:

• The postpartum stress scale was previously developed for Taiwanese women.
• Societal changes in Taiwan over the past decade necessitate re-evaluation of scale items.
• Existing scale items require re-examination to reflect current postpartum stressors.

Purpose of the Study:

• To further test and validate the postpartum stress scale for Taiwanese women.
• To ensure the scale accurately measures postpartum stress in the contemporary Taiwanese social context.
• To provide a reliable instrument for assessing postpartum stress.

Main Methods:

• Non-experimental quantitative research design with repeated measures.
• Data collected at the first and fifth week postpartum.
• Sampling from Kaohsiung, Taiwan, included 505 women at week 1 and 518 at week 5, using proportional stratified quota sampling.

Main Results:

• Factor analysis identified three core attributes of postpartum stress: maternal role attainment, lack of social support, and negative body changes.
• The scale demonstrated high reliability with Cronbach's alphas of 0.94 (week 1) and 0.92 (week 5).
• The validated scale effectively measures postpartum stress in Taiwanese women.

Conclusions:

• The postpartum stress scale is a validated instrument for Taiwanese postpartum women.
• The scale's attributes (maternal role, social support, body changes) are crucial for understanding postpartum stress.
• The study aims to facilitate early detection of postpartum stressors for targeted nursing interventions and coping support.