Testing the Psychometric Properties of the Postpartum Sleep Quality Scale in Turkish Women.

BACKGROUND

Postpartum sleeplessness has been observed to be an important health problem in Turkey. However, no scale is currently available to evaluate quality of sleep in Turkish postpartum women.

PURPOSE

The aim of this study was to test the validity and reliability of the Turkish Postpartum Sleep Quality Scale (T-PSQS).

METHODS

The sample of this methodological study surveyed 100 women during their first 2 postpartum weeks. Data were obtained using a personal characteristics form and the PSQS. The PSQS is a 5-point scale ranging from 0 to 4. The validity of the PSQS was tested using content validity index and confirmatory and exploratory factor analyses, and the reliability of the scale was tested using Cronbach's alpha.

RESULTS

The opinions of eight experts were canvassed to test the validity of the T-PSQS. The content validity index showed that the scale had high validity (.92). The factor analysis that was conducted to test the construct validity of the scale indicated that the scale was composed of three factors with eigenvalues over 1.00 and that the total Cronbach's alpha coefficient was .88. The Cronbach's alpha for the subscales "Infant night care-related daytime dysfunction," " Physical symptoms-related sleep inefficiency," and "Sleep quality or sleep" were .82, .86, and .80, respectively.

CONCLUSIONS

Content validity, construct validity, and reliability analyses of the T-PSQS revealed that the scale may be used to measure postpartum sleeplessness levels and sleep quality in Turkish women.