Psychometric properties of the Fear of Birth Scale in women in the perinatal period: a multicountry study

Matilde Sousa; Daniela Fidalgo; Cláudia Sousa; Susan Garthus-Niegel; Olga Riklikienė; Paulina Pawlicka; Julie Jomeen; Inês Jongenelen; Lara Seefeld; Gabija Jarašiūnaitė-Fedosejeva; Barbara Baranowska; Kathleen Baird; Diogo Lamela; Raquel Costa; Tiago Miguel Pinto

doi:10.1016/j.jad.2025.01.063

Psychometric properties of the Fear of Birth Scale in women in the perinatal period: a multicountry study

Matilde Sousa, Daniela Fidalgo, Cláudia Sousa, Susan Garthus-Niegel, Olga Riklikienė, Paulina Pawlicka, Julie Jomeen, Inês Jongenelen, Lara Seefeld, Gabija Jarašiūnaitė-Fedosejeva, Barbara Baranowska, Kathleen Baird, Diogo Lamela, Raquel Costa, Tiago Miguel Pinto

Resultado de pesquisa › revisão de pares

Resumo

Assessing Fear of Birth Scale's (FOBS) psychometric properties in the perinatal period using multicountry data is a step toward effectively screen clinically significant fear of childbirth (FOC) in maternal healthcare settings. FOBS psychometric properties were analyzed in women in the perinatal period using data from Australia, Germany, Lithuania, Poland, and Portugal. FOBS' reliability, criterion (known group and convergent), concurrent, predictive, and clinical validity were analyzed. FOBS was completed by 3431 women in pregnancy (n = 2984) or postpartum (n = 447). Sociodemographic, obstetric, neonatal, and mental health-related data, depressive and anxiety symptoms, and tokophobia severity were self-reported. FOBS has good reliability. Known-group validity was established based on differences in sociodemographic, obstetric, neonatal, and mental health-related variables. Convergent validity was found with depressive and anxiety symptoms, and birth trauma. Concurrent validity was found with tokophobia severity. FOBS scores in pregnancy predicted elective cesarean section, and postpartum depressive and anxiety symptoms. FOBS discriminates between women with and without clinically significant FOC in pregnancy and postpartum, with optimal cut-offs across countries. This multicountry study suggested that FOBS is a psychometrically strong measure that can be an effective tool to screen clinically significant FOC in the perinatal period.

Idioma original	Inglês
Páginas (de-até)	365-380
Número de páginas	16
Revista	Journal of Affective Disorders
Volume	374
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jad.2025.01.063
Estado da publicação	Publicadas - 1 abr. 2025

Nota bibliográfica

Publisher Copyright:
© 2025 The Author(s)

Financiamento

Financiadoras/-es	Número do financiador
Portuguese Ministry of Science, Technology and Higher Education	UIDB/05380/2020
Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia	LA/P/0064/2020, UIDB/04750/2020

ODS da ONU

Este resultado contribui para o(s) seguinte(s) Objetivo(s) de Desenvolvimento Sustentável

Acesso ao documento

10.1016/j.jad.2025.01.063

Outros arquivos e links

Link to publication in Scopus

Studies from Lusofona University Reveal New Findings on Anxiety Disorders (Psychometric Properties of the Fear of Birth Scale In Women In the Perinatal Period: a Multicountry Study)
Sousa, C. N. S. D., Pinto, T. M. P., Jongenelen, I. M. & Lamela, D.
9/04/25
1 item de Cobertura de meios de comunicação
Imprensa/meios de comunicação: Imprensa

Citar isto

Sousa, M., Fidalgo, D., Sousa, C., Garthus-Niegel, S., Riklikienė, O., Pawlicka, P., Jomeen, J., Jongenelen, I., Seefeld, L., Jarašiūnaitė-Fedosejeva, G., Baranowska, B., Baird, K., Lamela, D., Costa, R., & Pinto, T. M. (2025). Psychometric properties of the Fear of Birth Scale in women in the perinatal period: a multicountry study. Journal of Affective Disorders, 374, 365-380. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jad.2025.01.063

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title = "Psychometric properties of the Fear of Birth Scale in women in the perinatal period: a multicountry study",

abstract = "Assessing Fear of Birth Scale's (FOBS) psychometric properties in the perinatal period using multicountry data is a step toward effectively screen clinically significant fear of childbirth (FOC) in maternal healthcare settings. FOBS psychometric properties were analyzed in women in the perinatal period using data from Australia, Germany, Lithuania, Poland, and Portugal. FOBS' reliability, criterion (known group and convergent), concurrent, predictive, and clinical validity were analyzed. FOBS was completed by 3431 women in pregnancy (n = 2984) or postpartum (n = 447). Sociodemographic, obstetric, neonatal, and mental health-related data, depressive and anxiety symptoms, and tokophobia severity were self-reported. FOBS has good reliability. Known-group validity was established based on differences in sociodemographic, obstetric, neonatal, and mental health-related variables. Convergent validity was found with depressive and anxiety symptoms, and birth trauma. Concurrent validity was found with tokophobia severity. FOBS scores in pregnancy predicted elective cesarean section, and postpartum depressive and anxiety symptoms. FOBS discriminates between women with and without clinically significant FOC in pregnancy and postpartum, with optimal cut-offs across countries. This multicountry study suggested that FOBS is a psychometrically strong measure that can be an effective tool to screen clinically significant FOC in the perinatal period.",

keywords = "Fear of birth scale, Fear of childbirth, Postpartum, Pregnancy, Psychometric properties, Tokophobia",

author = "Matilde Sousa and Daniela Fidalgo and Cl{\'a}udia Sousa and Susan Garthus-Niegel and Olga Riklikienė and Paulina Pawlicka and Julie Jomeen and In{\^e}s Jongenelen and Lara Seefeld and Gabija Jara{\v s}iūnaitė-Fedosejeva and Barbara Baranowska and Kathleen Baird and Diogo Lamela and Raquel Costa and Pinto, {Tiago Miguel}",

note = "Publisher Copyright: {\textcopyright} 2025 The Author(s)",

year = "2025",

month = apr,

day = "1",

doi = "10.1016/j.jad.2025.01.063",

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pages = "365--380",

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Sousa, M , Fidalgo, D , Sousa, C, Garthus-Niegel, S, Riklikienė, O, Pawlicka, P, Jomeen, J, Jongenelen, I, Seefeld, L, Jarašiūnaitė-Fedosejeva, G, Baranowska, B, Baird, K, Lamela, D , Costa, R & Pinto, TM 2025, 'Psychometric properties of the Fear of Birth Scale in women in the perinatal period: a multicountry study', Journal of Affective Disorders, vol. 374, pp. 365-380. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jad.2025.01.063

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T2 - a multicountry study

AU - Sousa, Matilde

AU - Fidalgo, Daniela

AU - Sousa, Cláudia

AU - Garthus-Niegel, Susan

AU - Riklikienė, Olga

AU - Pawlicka, Paulina

AU - Jomeen, Julie

AU - Jongenelen, Inês

AU - Seefeld, Lara

AU - Jarašiūnaitė-Fedosejeva, Gabija

AU - Baranowska, Barbara

AU - Baird, Kathleen

AU - Lamela, Diogo

AU - Costa, Raquel

AU - Pinto, Tiago Miguel

PY - 2025/4/1

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N2 - Assessing Fear of Birth Scale's (FOBS) psychometric properties in the perinatal period using multicountry data is a step toward effectively screen clinically significant fear of childbirth (FOC) in maternal healthcare settings. FOBS psychometric properties were analyzed in women in the perinatal period using data from Australia, Germany, Lithuania, Poland, and Portugal. FOBS' reliability, criterion (known group and convergent), concurrent, predictive, and clinical validity were analyzed. FOBS was completed by 3431 women in pregnancy (n = 2984) or postpartum (n = 447). Sociodemographic, obstetric, neonatal, and mental health-related data, depressive and anxiety symptoms, and tokophobia severity were self-reported. FOBS has good reliability. Known-group validity was established based on differences in sociodemographic, obstetric, neonatal, and mental health-related variables. Convergent validity was found with depressive and anxiety symptoms, and birth trauma. Concurrent validity was found with tokophobia severity. FOBS scores in pregnancy predicted elective cesarean section, and postpartum depressive and anxiety symptoms. FOBS discriminates between women with and without clinically significant FOC in pregnancy and postpartum, with optimal cut-offs across countries. This multicountry study suggested that FOBS is a psychometrically strong measure that can be an effective tool to screen clinically significant FOC in the perinatal period.

AB - Assessing Fear of Birth Scale's (FOBS) psychometric properties in the perinatal period using multicountry data is a step toward effectively screen clinically significant fear of childbirth (FOC) in maternal healthcare settings. FOBS psychometric properties were analyzed in women in the perinatal period using data from Australia, Germany, Lithuania, Poland, and Portugal. FOBS' reliability, criterion (known group and convergent), concurrent, predictive, and clinical validity were analyzed. FOBS was completed by 3431 women in pregnancy (n = 2984) or postpartum (n = 447). Sociodemographic, obstetric, neonatal, and mental health-related data, depressive and anxiety symptoms, and tokophobia severity were self-reported. FOBS has good reliability. Known-group validity was established based on differences in sociodemographic, obstetric, neonatal, and mental health-related variables. Convergent validity was found with depressive and anxiety symptoms, and birth trauma. Concurrent validity was found with tokophobia severity. FOBS scores in pregnancy predicted elective cesarean section, and postpartum depressive and anxiety symptoms. FOBS discriminates between women with and without clinically significant FOC in pregnancy and postpartum, with optimal cut-offs across countries. This multicountry study suggested that FOBS is a psychometrically strong measure that can be an effective tool to screen clinically significant FOC in the perinatal period.

KW - Fear of birth scale

KW - Fear of childbirth

KW - Postpartum

KW - Pregnancy

KW - Psychometric properties

KW - Tokophobia

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U2 - 10.1016/j.jad.2025.01.063

DO - 10.1016/j.jad.2025.01.063

M3 - Article

AN - SCOPUS:85215410497

SN - 0165-0327

VL - 374

SP - 365

EP - 380

JO - Journal of Affective Disorders

JF - Journal of Affective Disorders

ER -

Psychometric properties of the Fear of Birth Scale in women in the perinatal period: a multicountry study

Resumo

Nota bibliográfica

Financiamento

ODS da ONU

Acesso ao documento

Outros arquivos e links

Impressão digital

Imprensa/meios de comunicação

Studies from Lusofona University Reveal New Findings on Anxiety Disorders (Psychometric Properties of the Fear of Birth Scale In Women In the Perinatal Period: a Multicountry Study)

Citar isto