Validation of the Arabic Childbirth Care Satisfaction Survey

Measuring maternal satisfaction in Arab countries is an essential indicator of care quality. However, existing surveys have limited psychometric properties and inclusion criteria.

To present the psychometric properties of the Arabic Childbirth Care Satisfaction Survey (CCSS).

The Arabic CCSS was developed from 2 English surveys. In 2017, 13 mothers assessed survey items in terms of clarity, importance and acceptability. The CCSS was distributed to all mothers who delivered a live baby during the 4-week study period in 9 hospitals in Oman. A sample of 461 participants was used for principal component analysis (PCA) and another sample of 408 participants (after removing missing data) was used for confirmatory factor analysis (CFA). Two-sample independent t tests were conducted to establish discriminant validity. Stata software was used for the analysis.

The survey demonstrated good face and content validity with all items rated above 3 out of 5. Out of the 3566 targeted population, 958 (26.9%) mothers participated. PCA identified 2 factors labelled as communication and control (Cronbach's α = 0.90) and care organization (Cronbach's α = 0.68) with good internal reliability. CFA demonstrated good model fit, confirming construct validity. Mothers who had vaginal delivery were more satisfied (P < 0.05) compared with those who underwent caesarean section, thus establishing good discriminant validity.

A short Arabic CCSS tool was developed. This new 10-item tool had good face and content validity, good internal reliability, construct validity and discriminant validity. It can provide valuable information to clinicians and decision-makers about the quality of maternity services.