Revised Pregnancy Stress Rating Scale Chinese Version: Psychometric Testing in Taiwanese Pregnant Women

Chen, Chung-Hey

Tuesday, July 12, 2011: 8:30 AM

Chung-Hey Chen, PhD
Institute of Allied Health Sciences & Department of Nursing, Cheng Kung University, Tainan, Taiwan

Learning Objective 1: 1. The learner will be able to understand the development of a revised 36-item Pregnancy Stress Rating Scale.

Learning Objective 2: 2. The learner will be able to identify that the Chinese version 36-item Pregnancy Stress Rating Scale demonstrates adequate reliability and validity.

Purpose: Pregnancy is a potentially stressful life event. The 30-item Pregnancy Stress Rating Scale (PSRS) used in Taiwan and China was initially developed and published in 1983 by Chen and associates to measure women’s specific prenatal stress in Taiwan. The aim of this study was to reconsider, revise and revalidate the Chinese PSRS to reflect the social changes that have occurred over the last two decades.

Methods: A cross-sectional study design was implemented. A total of 300 pregnant women were recruited from hospitals and clinics in Tainan area of southern Taiwan. Data were collected from December 2009 to May 2010 using a demographic form, revised 40-item PSRS, Perceived Stress Scale (PSS) and Interpersonal Support Evaluation List (ISEL).

Results: The PSRS36 was derived by dropping the 4 items with relatively low item-total correlation coefficient or factor loadings. The 36-item PSRS demonstrated good internal consistency (α = 0.92) and two-week test-retest reliability (r = 0.83). Its construct validity was confirmed by factor analysis which extracted and defined five dimensions of prenatal stressors: (1) seeking safe passage for herself and her child through pregnancy, labor and delivery, (2) baby care and changing family relationship, (3) identifying maternal role, (4) seeking support system, and (5) altered physical appearance and physical function. These five factors with factor loadings ranging from 0.34 to 0.80 explained 52.17% of the total variance. Convergent and discriminate validities were demonstrated by its positive correlation with PSS (r = 0.40, p = 0.00) and negative correlation with ISEL (r = –0.27, p = 0.00).

Conclusion: The revised 36-item PSRS is a reliable and valid scale to measure Taiwanese women’s pregnancy stress. We recommend use of PSRS36 in future research, further translating it into English and tested in the Western society.

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