Postpartal Parenting Scale: A Preliminary Study

摘要

Inadequate parenting has been shown to have detrimental effects on the development of the child, the parents, and the family unit. Needed are reliable and valid tools that screen for possible parenting difficulties at the earliest stages and express parents' perspectives. This study focused on the needs and concerns of typical parents of newborns in the first three months of parenting. The Postpartal Parenting Scale (PPS) was developed based on qualitative interviews with new first-time parents. Items from the Third Trimester Concerns Scale (Imle, 1989) were included in the PPS during each phase of testing. This study tested for clarity, internal homogeneity, and content validity of the instrument. Two panels of parents, panel I (n = 4) reviewed items for clarity and panel II (n = 10) reviewed items and subscales for internal homogeneity and content validity. A percent agreement criterion of 75% for panel I and 80% for panel II was used for items to be retained. Panel I rated 78 of the 96 original items as clear. Panel II rated 173 of 186 items as homogeneous and 191 of 198 items at acceptable levels for content validity. Thus, parents have validated that the PPS covers concerns they are having as new first-time parents. This is a preliminary study of the PPS and further psychometric testing and factor analysis will be conducted in the future.