Department of Developmental Psychology, The Pennsylvania State University, University Park, PA.
Department of Human Development and Family Studies, Purdue University, West Lafayette, IN.
J Dev Behav Pediatr. 2020 Dec;41(9):698-705. doi: 10.1097/DBP.0000000000000841.
Mothers are known to be reliable reporters of smoking during pregnancy, type of delivery, and birth weight when compared with medical records. Few studies have considered whether the timing of retrospective collection affects the mother's retrospective self-report. We examined the consistency of maternal retrospective recall of prenatal experiences, behaviors, and basic birth outcomes between 6 months and 8 years postpartum.
We examined 117 mothers (62% White, 44% living in a committed relationship, median high school education) from the Early Growth and Development Study (EGDS). EGDS is a longitudinal adoption study that includes birth mothers of children born between 2003 and 2009 who were involved in a domestic adoption. Using the modified life history calendar and a pregnancy screener, mothers reported on their prenatal health behaviors, prenatal substance use, and labor and delivery at 6 months and 8 years postpartum. Cohen κ was calculated to examine consistency, and χ tests were used to test differences by parity and maternal education.
Mothers' recall was very good for recall of the type of delivery and good for smoking during pregnancy, medicine used for labor induction, and specific medical problems (i.e., pre-eclampsia, sexually transmitted infections, and kidney infections). Recall consistency was poor for illicit drug use, specific prenatal tests performed (i.e., amniocentesis and emergency room visits), and using drugs other than an epidural during delivery.
This study provides support for using retrospective collection of maternal self-report on some prenatal experiences up to 8 years postpartum and offers a potential way to more accurately collect self-reported prenatal experiences.
与医疗记录相比，母亲被认为是可靠的孕期吸烟、分娩方式和出生体重报告者。很少有研究考虑回顾性收集的时间是否会影响母亲的回顾性自我报告。我们检查了产后 6 个月至 8 年期间，母亲对产前经历、行为和基本出生结局的回顾性回忆的一致性。
我们研究了早期生长与发育研究（EGDS）中的 117 位母亲（62%为白人，44%处于稳定关系中，中位数具有高中学历）。EGDS 是一项纵向收养研究，包括 2003 年至 2009 年间出生的儿童的生母，她们参与了国内收养。母亲们在产后 6 个月和 8 年时使用改良生活史日历和妊娠筛查器报告了她们的产前健康行为、产前药物使用以及分娩情况。我们使用 Cohen κ 来检查一致性，并使用 χ 检验来检验产次和母亲教育的差异。
母亲对分娩方式的回忆非常好，对怀孕期间吸烟、用于引产的药物以及特定的医疗问题（即子痫前期、性传播感染和肾脏感染）的回忆也很好。对非法药物使用、特定的产前检查（即羊膜穿刺术和急诊室就诊）以及在分娩过程中使用除硬膜外以外的药物的回忆一致性较差。
这项研究为在产后 8 年内使用回顾性收集母亲自我报告的一些产前经历提供了支持，并为更准确地收集自我报告的产前经历提供了一种潜在方法。
