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Screening for Perinatal Anxiety Using the Childbirth Fear Questionnaire: A New Measure of Fear of Childbirth

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  • Nichole Fairbrother

    (Department of Family Practice, Faculty of Medicine, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, BC V6T 1Z4, Canada)

  • Fanie Collardeau

    (Department of Psychology, Faculty of Social Sciences, University of Victoria, Victoria, BC V8P 5C2, Canada)

  • Arianne Albert

    (Women’s Health Research Institute, Vancouver, BC V6H 2N9, Canada)

  • Kathrin Stoll

    (Department of Family Practice, Faculty of Medicine, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, BC V6T 1Z4, Canada)

Abstract

Fear of childbirth affects as many as 20% of pregnant people, and has been associated with pregnancy termination, prolonged labour, increased risk of emergency and elective caesarean delivery, poor maternal mental health, and poor maternal-infant bonding. Currently available measures of fear of childbirth fail to fully capture pregnant people’s childbirth-related fears. The purpose of this research was to develop a new measure of fear of childbirth (the Childbirth Fear Questionnaire; CFQ) that would address the limitations of existing measures. The CFQ’s psychometric properties were evaluated through two studies. Participants for Study 1 were 643 pregnant people residing in Canada, the United States, and the United Kingdom, with a mean age of 29.0 (SD = 5.1) years, and 881 pregnant people residing in Canada, with a mean age of 32.9 (SD = 4.3) years for Study 2. In both studies, participants completed a set of questionnaires, including the CFQ, via an online survey. Exploratory factor analysis in Study 1 resulted in a 40-item, 9-factor scale, which was well supported in Study 2. Both studies provided evidence of high internal consistency and convergent and discriminant validity. Study 1 also provided evidence that the CFQ detects group differences between pregnant people across mode of delivery preference and parity. Study 2 added to findings from Study 1 by providing evidence for the dimensional structure of the construct of fear of childbirth, and measurement invariance across parity groups (i.e., the measurement model of the CFQ was generalizable across parity groups). Estimates of the psychometric properties of the CFQ across the two studies provided evidence that the CFQ is psychometrically sound, and currently the most comprehensive measure of fear of childbirth available. The CFQ covers a broad range of domains of fear of childbirth and can serve to identify specific fear domains to be targeted in treatment.

Suggested Citation

  • Nichole Fairbrother & Fanie Collardeau & Arianne Albert & Kathrin Stoll, 2022. "Screening for Perinatal Anxiety Using the Childbirth Fear Questionnaire: A New Measure of Fear of Childbirth," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 19(4), pages 1-23, February.
    • Handle: RePEc:gam:jijerp:v:19:y:2022:i:4:p:2223-:d:750508
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    2. Rosseel, Yves, 2012. "lavaan: An R Package for Structural Equation Modeling," Journal of Statistical Software, Foundation for Open Access Statistics, vol. 48(i02).
    3. Fisher, Colleen & Hauck, Yvonne & Fenwick, Jenny, 2006. "How social context impacts on women's fears of childbirth: A Western Australian example," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 63(1), pages 64-75, July.
    4. Wayne Velicer, 1976. "Determining the number of components from the matrix of partial correlations," Psychometrika, Springer;The Psychometric Society, vol. 41(3), pages 321-327, September.
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    1. Nichole Fairbrother & Arianne Albert & Fanie Collardeau & Cora Keeney, 2022. "The Childbirth Fear Questionnaire and the Wijma Delivery Expectancy Questionnaire as Screening Tools for Specific Phobia, Fear of Childbirth," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 19(8), pages 1-19, April.

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