Chiara Suttora, Odette Nardozza, Laura Menabò, Emanuele Preti, Ilenia Passaquindici, Mirco Fasolo, Maria Spinelli
{"title":"Development and validation of the Disrespect and Mistreatment during Childbirth Questionnaire: risk factors and effects on parenting stress.","authors":"Chiara Suttora, Odette Nardozza, Laura Menabò, Emanuele Preti, Ilenia Passaquindici, Mirco Fasolo, Maria Spinelli","doi":"10.3389/fpsyg.2025.1562679","DOIUrl":null,"url":null,"abstract":"<p><strong>Introduction: </strong>A growing body of research indicates that disrespect and mistreatment during childbirth (obstetric mistreatment) are widespread globally. These experiences, along with their prevalence, risk factors, and impacts on maternal mental health, are often assessed using <i>ad hoc</i> tools, highlighting the need for psychometrically valid instruments. This study aims to develop and validate the Disrespect and Mistreatment during Childbirth Questionnaire (DMCQ) and explore factors contributing to negative childbirth experiences, as well as the relationship between mistreatment and parenting stress during the first two postpartum years.</p><p><strong>Methods: </strong>An online survey was administered to 620 women, assessing sociodemographic and childbirth-related factors, experiences of disrespect and mistreatment during childbirth, postpartum posttraumatic stress symptoms related to childbirth, personality traits, and parenting stress.</p><p><strong>Results: </strong>Exploratory factor analysis identified a 5-factor model with good internal consistency: negative interactions with healthcare providers, separation from the newborn, medical intrusiveness, verbal mistreatment, and pain experience. Confirmatory factor analysis supported this structure, showing positive correlations with perinatal stress (convergent validity) and no association with openness to experience (divergent validity). Higher scores on the DMCQ correlated with increased parenting stress, particularly distress related to the parental role. Women with higher education, low income, and births in Southern Italy reported greater obstetric mistreatment. Risk factors included primiparity, unplanned cesarean, instrumental delivery, episiotomy, anesthesia, labor exceeding 12 h, and delivery complications.</p><p><strong>Discussion: </strong>In conclusion, the Disrespect and Mistreatment during Childbirth Questionnaire is a psychometrically valid tool specifically designed to address obstetric mistreatment in the early years postpartum.</p>","PeriodicalId":12525,"journal":{"name":"Frontiers in Psychology","volume":"16 ","pages":"1562679"},"PeriodicalIF":2.6000,"publicationDate":"2025-03-05","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC11922090/pdf/","citationCount":"0","resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":null,"PeriodicalName":"Frontiers in Psychology","FirstCategoryId":"102","ListUrlMain":"https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2025.1562679","RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"心理学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":null,"EPubDate":"2025/1/1 0:00:00","PubModel":"eCollection","JCR":"Q2","JCRName":"PSYCHOLOGY, MULTIDISCIPLINARY","Score":null,"Total":0}
引用次数: 0
Abstract
Introduction: A growing body of research indicates that disrespect and mistreatment during childbirth (obstetric mistreatment) are widespread globally. These experiences, along with their prevalence, risk factors, and impacts on maternal mental health, are often assessed using ad hoc tools, highlighting the need for psychometrically valid instruments. This study aims to develop and validate the Disrespect and Mistreatment during Childbirth Questionnaire (DMCQ) and explore factors contributing to negative childbirth experiences, as well as the relationship between mistreatment and parenting stress during the first two postpartum years.
Methods: An online survey was administered to 620 women, assessing sociodemographic and childbirth-related factors, experiences of disrespect and mistreatment during childbirth, postpartum posttraumatic stress symptoms related to childbirth, personality traits, and parenting stress.
Results: Exploratory factor analysis identified a 5-factor model with good internal consistency: negative interactions with healthcare providers, separation from the newborn, medical intrusiveness, verbal mistreatment, and pain experience. Confirmatory factor analysis supported this structure, showing positive correlations with perinatal stress (convergent validity) and no association with openness to experience (divergent validity). Higher scores on the DMCQ correlated with increased parenting stress, particularly distress related to the parental role. Women with higher education, low income, and births in Southern Italy reported greater obstetric mistreatment. Risk factors included primiparity, unplanned cesarean, instrumental delivery, episiotomy, anesthesia, labor exceeding 12 h, and delivery complications.
Discussion: In conclusion, the Disrespect and Mistreatment during Childbirth Questionnaire is a psychometrically valid tool specifically designed to address obstetric mistreatment in the early years postpartum.
期刊介绍：
Frontiers in Psychology is the largest journal in its field, publishing rigorously peer-reviewed research across the psychological sciences, from clinical research to cognitive science, from perception to consciousness, from imaging studies to human factors, and from animal cognition to social psychology. Field Chief Editor Axel Cleeremans at the Free University of Brussels is supported by an outstanding Editorial Board of international researchers. This multidisciplinary open-access journal is at the forefront of disseminating and communicating scientific knowledge and impactful discoveries to researchers, academics, clinicians and the public worldwide. The journal publishes the best research across the entire field of psychology. Today, psychological science is becoming increasingly important at all levels of society, from the treatment of clinical disorders to our basic understanding of how the mind works. It is highly interdisciplinary, borrowing questions from philosophy, methods from neuroscience and insights from clinical practice - all in the goal of furthering our grasp of human nature and society, as well as our ability to develop new intervention methods.
求助内容：
应助结果提醒方式：
京公网安备 11010802042870号
