Development and Psychometric Properties of the Women’s Recovery of Postnatal Perineal Injuries Questionnaire (WRPPIQ)

BACKGROUND: Recovery of postnatal women with perineal injuries, especially when perineal tear is severe, occurs much later than the healthy women. There is no specific questionnaire to assess the postnatal recovery in these women. The aim of this study was development and psychometric evaluation of a new tool to measure women’s recovery of postnatal perineal injuries questionnaire (WRPPIQ). METHODS: In this validation study, which was conducted based on the method developed by DeVellis (2003), 270 women with postnatal perineal injuries who referred to healthcare centers in Mashhad, Iran, were studied between 2018 and 2020. This method consisted of steps: (1) definition of postnatal recovery based on in-depth qualitative interview with 22 women, (2) generation of an item pool, (3) selection of the Likert scale, (4) review of the initial item pool, (5) inclusion of items from relevant instruments, (6) conducting exploratory factor analysis, (7) evaluation of the items, and (8) optimization of the scale length. RESULTS: The initially generated item pool consisted of 144 items on a 5-point Likert scale, which reduced to 85 items following face and content validity measurement. The value of the SCVI/Ave was measured 0.901. The conduction of exploratory factor analysis resulted in 33 items and three factors including evidence of wellness, emotional changes as well as independence and support. The Cronbach’s alpha for the three factors was calculated 0.92, 0.80, and 0.83, respectively. CONCLUSION: WRPPIQ has validity and reliability to measure the women’s recovery of postnatal perineal injuries in Iran. It is, therefore, recommended that health care providers to assess women’s recovery of postnatal perineal injuries using this newly developed questionnaire.