Author(s)

Mizuki Takegata¹, Megumi Haruna², Masayo Matsuzaki², Mie Shiraishi², Tadaharu Okano³, Elisabeth Severinsson⁴

¹Department of Paediatric Infectious Diseases, Institute of Tropical Medicine, Nagasaki University, Nagasaki, Japan.
²Department of Midwifery and Women’s Health, Division of Health Sciences & Nursing Graduate School of Medicine, University of Tokyo, Tokyo, Japan.
³Centre of Physical and Mental Health, Mie University, Tsu, Japan.
⁴Centre for Women’s, Family & Child Health, Department of Nursing Science, Faculty of Health Sciences, University College of Southeast Norway, Kongsberg, Norway.

The Wijma Delivery Expectancy/Experience Questionnaire (W-DEQ) is a widely accepted approach to measuring fear of childbirth and is available in two versions: antenatal (version A) and postnatal (version B). The aim of this study was to develop the Japanese W-DEQ version B and confirm its validity and reliability among Japanese women. A self-administered questionnaire incorporating the translated Japanese W-DEQ (JW-DEQ) version B and the anxiety subscale of the Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale (HADS) was distributed to Japanese mothers at two days postpartum. Of the 246 women recruited, 231 who completed the questionnaire at two days postpartum were analyzed. An exploratory factor analysis of the JW-DEQ version B revealed four factors: fear, lack of positive anticipation, isolation and riskiness. The JW-DEQ version B exhibited a positive correlation with the HADS anxiety subscale (r = 0.34, p < 0.001). The Cronbach’s α value derived from the total 33 items was 0.95. This study provides evidence of the factorial, concurrent validity and the internal consistency of the JW-DEQ version B. However, a further study involving participants from different demographic groups will be required.

Japanese Women, Reliability, Scale Development, Postnatal Fear of Childbirth, Validity

Takegata, M. , Haruna, M. , Matsuzaki, M. , Shiraishi, M. , Okano, T. and Severinsson, E. (2017) Psychometric Evaluation of the Japanese Wijma Delivery Expectancy/Experience Questionnaire Version B. Open Journal of Nursing, 7, 15-27. doi: 10.4236/ojn.2017.71002.