Psychometric validation of a patient‐reported experience measure of obstetric racism© (The PREM‐OB Scale™ suite)

Background Perinatal quality improvement lacks valid tools to measure adverse hospital experiences disproportionately impacting Black mothers and birthing people. Measuring and mitigating harm requires using a framework that centers the lived experiences of Black birthing people in evaluating inequitable care, namely, obstetric racism. We sought to develop a valid patient‐reported experience measure (PREM) of Obstetric Racism© in hospital‐based intrapartum care designed for, by, and with Black women as patient, community, and content experts. Methods PROMIS© instrument development standards adapted with cultural rigor methodology. Phase 1 included item pool generation, modified Delphi method, and cognitive interviews. Phase 2 evaluated the item pool using factor analysis and item response theory. Results Items were identified or written to cover 7 previously identified theoretical domains. 806 Black mothers and birthing people completed the pilot test. Factor analysis concluded a 3 factor structure with good fit indices (CFI = 0.931‐0.977, RMSEA = 0.087‐0.10, R2 > .3, residual correlation