Designing and Evaluating the Psychometric Properties of the Persian Version of Pregnant Women's Perceptions of Vaginal Examination during Labor Scale

Vaginal examination is an essential part of obstetric care. Due to cultural influences and the sensitive nature of the subject, there is a need for a precise tool to evaluate that in Iranian women. This study aimed to develop a scale for investigating iranian pregnant women’s perceptions of vaginal examination during labor and evaluate its psychometric properties.

This methodological study was performed in two phases. First, the items were extracted by reviewing relevant literature. Then, the psychometric properties of the instrument were determined by face validity and content validity (qualitative and quantitative assessments), construct validity (exploratory factor analysis and known-group validation), and internal consistency and stability. All data analyses were done in SPSS V19.0.

Thirty five items were extracted. After assessing the face and content validity, the items reduced to 29. After exploratory factor analysis the items of the instrument were 26 that indictated five factors. Finally, internal consistency )α= 0.754( and stability )ICC== 0.79( were determined for reliability evaluation by test- retest.

According to this study, the Persian Version of Women’s Perceptions of Vaginal Examination (26 items) could be used as a an acceptable instrument for investigating women’s perceptions of vaginal examination during labor, due to good development process and suitable validity and reliability.