Development and Psychometric Properties of the Self-Acceptance Scales for Pregnant and Postpartum Women

Self-acceptance, that is, a person's acceptance of their own psychological and physical attributes, is considered critical for mental wellbeing. A lack of self-acceptance may contribute to the development of psychopathology. In the peripartum period, self-acceptance has particular relevance, as major psychological and body changes are normative during this time. This research presents the development and validation of the Self-Acceptance Scale for Pregnant Women (SAS-PW) and the Self-Acceptance Scale for Postpartum Women (SAS-PPW). Participants were aged 18-52. In Study 1, we developed 77 items for the SAS-PW and 74 items the SAS-PPW, based on literature review, previous scales, and qualitative study. In Study 2, nine experts and 60 representatives of the target population evaluated the instruments' content validity, leading some items to be excluded and others to be modified. Studies 3 and 4 analyzed the instruments' psychometric qualities among respondents to the instruments, 1254 pregnant women and 607 postpartum women from across Brazil. We conducted exploratory and confirmatory factor analyses with independent samples. The final SAS-PW (10 items and two-factors) and SAS-PPW (14 items and three-factors) demonstrated adequate psychometric quality for use with Brazilian pregnant and postpartum women, respectively.