Development of a Novel Self-Report Tool to Aid in the Assessment of Women's Pregnancy-Related Self-Efficacy: The Pregnancy Care Confidence Scale (PCCS)

BACKGROUND: Adequate pregnancy-related self-efficacy, or confidence in the ability to engage in pregnancy-related health behaviors, can reduce the risk of adverse pregnancy health outcomes. OBJECTIVES: The Pregnancy Care Confidence Scale (PCCS) is a new instrument to evaluate a woman's confidence in her ability to engage in the health behaviors recommended for a healthy pregnancy. STUDY DESIGN: Participants were recruited through ResearchMatch (n = 1,138), and the survey was administered through Qualtrics XM. The sample was split randomly into 2 nonoverlapping groups for an exploratory factor analysis to identify the factor structure (n = 579) and a confirmatory factor analysis to test the structure (n = 559). RESULTS: The PCCS includes 18 items and 4 factors: (1) managing life, (2) lifestyle behaviors, (3) psychosocial health, and (4) planning. The four-factor model had acceptable fit, as indicated by the Kaiser-Meyer-Olkin Measure of Sampling Adequacy (KMO-MSA = 0.89) and Bartlett test of sphericity [χ (153) = 4,452.81, P < .001]. The PCCS showed good internal consistency (α = 0.91 in the exploratory factor analysis sample; α = 0.90 in the confirmatory factor analysis sample). CONCLUSIONS: Preliminary evidence supports the use of the PCCS for measuring women's confidence in recommended pregnancy-related health behaviors.