Advancing Maternal Well-Being: Development and Psychometric Validation of a Clinic-Based Instrument for Evaluating Healthy Adaptation to Pregnancy

Aims

This study aimed to develop and evaluate the psychometric properties of a clinic-based instrument to assess pregnant individuals' adaptation to pregnancy.

Background

Pregnancy is a multifaceted experience involving physical transformations, psychological adjustments and social role changes, all of which require varying degrees of adaptation. Existing tools often focus narrowly on stress or psychological symptoms and may not fully capture the multidimensional nature of pregnancy adaptation.

Design

Instrument development and validation were conducted in three stages: generation, scale development and psychometric evaluation.

Methods

A cross-sectional study was conducted using convenience sampling. Four hundred thirty-four pregnant individuals were recruited and randomly assigned to exploratory factor analysis (n = 222) or confirmatory factor analysis (n = 212). The 15-item pool was refined to a nine-item scale.

Results

The final Healthy Adaptation to Pregnancy (HAP) scale comprised three factors: acceptance of pregnancy, coping with physical changes and mindfulness of pregnancy health, which explained 56.2% of the total variance. The scale demonstrated acceptable internal consistency and construct validity.

Conclusions

The HAP scale fills a critical gap in existing measures by providing a concise, multidimensional tool for evaluating adaptation to pregnancy. Its brief format and sound psychometric properties make it a valuable addition to prenatal care screening protocols.