Measuring women’s experiences of decision-making and aspects of midwifery support: a confirmatory factor analysis ofthe revised Childbirth Experience Questionnaire

Background: Women’s experiences of labour and birth can have both short- and long-term effects on theirphysical and psychological health. The original Swedish version of the Childbirth Experience Questionnaire (CEQ) has shown to have good psychometric quality and ability to differentiate between groups known to differ inchildbirth experience. Two subscales were revised in order to include new items with more relevant content aboutdecision-making and aspects of midwifery support. The aim of the study was to develop new items in twosubscales and to test construct validity and reliability of the revised version of CEQ, called CEQ2. Method: A total of 11 new items (Professional Support and Participation) and 14 original items from the first CEQ(Own capacity and Perceived safety), were answered by 682 women with spontaneous onset of labour. Confirmatoryfactor analysis was used to analyse model fit. Results: The hypothesised four-factor model showed good fit (CMIN = 2.79; RMR = 0.33; GFI = 0.94; CFI = 0.94; TLI =0.93; RMSEA = 0.054 and PCLOSE = 0.12) Cronbach’s alpha was good for all subscales (0.82, 0.83, 0.76 and 0.73) andfor the total scale (0.91). Conclusions: CEQ2, like the first CEQ, yields four important aspects of experience during labour and birth showinggood psychometric performance, including decision-making and aspects of midwifery support, in both primiparousand multiparous women.