Maternal confidence after birth in at-risk and not-at-risk mothers: internal and external validity of the Danish version of the Karitane Parenting Confidence Scale (KPCS)

Maiken Pontoppidan*, Stefan Bastholm Andrade, Ingeborg Hedegaard Kristensen, Erik Lykke Mortensen

*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journalJournal articleResearchpeer-review

8 Citations (Scopus)
82 Downloads (Pure)

Abstract

Background: Parenting confidence is a key factor in predicting a range of outcomes for both parents and children, such as parental depression, parental stress, and child health development. This study examines maternal confidence in at-risk and not-at-risk mothers and the psychometric properties of the Karitane Parenting Confidence Scale (KPCS). Results: The total sample consisted of 695 mothers (488 not-at-risk and 207 at-risk) from a community setting. Cronbach’s alpha ranged from 0.72 to 0.79, and item-rest correlations ranged from 0.17 to 0.57. Total score improved significantly from 41.75 at two months to 42.41 at six months for the not-at-risk group and increased significantly from 39.51 at two months to 41.12 at six months for the at-risk group. The differences between the two risk groups were significant at both times. Conclusion: The KPCS has acceptable internal consistency, but an overall ceiling effect, with many items characterized by low discrimination. Despite a significant difference in maternal confidence between at-risk and not-at-risk mothers at both two and six months, the total score did not predict risk status very well in this sample. A nine-item version may be equal to the original 15-item version.

Original languageEnglish
Article number33
JournalJournal of Patient-Reported Outcomes
Volume3
Issue number1
Number of pages9
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 2019

Keywords

  • Assessment
  • Child
  • Confidence
  • Family
  • First-time mothers
  • Infant
  • Parenting

Cite this