[Translation and validation in French of a multidimensional scale to evaluate the degree of satisfaction during childbirth]

Abstract

Background: Validation of the French version of the questionnaire: Women's Views of Birth Labour Satisfaction Questionnaire, version 4 (WOMBLSQ4). This self-administered questionnaire measures patient satisfaction with care dispensed during childbirth.

Methods: The WOMBLSQ4 comprises 30 items divided into ten dimensions. Items were translated from English into French and then underwent a linguistic adaptation. The results have been submitted to a descriptive analysis and psychometric tests used for questionnaires, i.e., the Cronbach alpha coefficient and Spearman correlation coefficient. The test-retest reliability has been assessed by a calculation of the intraclass correlation and by Bland-Altman plots.

Results: The study was presented to 116 primiparous patients between March and September 2004. One hundred and two (88%) patients agreed to participate in the study and received the French translation of WOMBLSQ4, as well as the Short-Form 12 Health Survey and the Edinburgh Postnatal Depression Scale, 2 months after childbirth. Ninety-two patients (90%) returned the questionnaires. The Cronbach alpha coefficient for the WOMBLSQ4 is 0.85. The results of the test-retest are between 0.54 and 0.83 for the intraclass correlation depending on the scale dimension, and show a homogeneity of the mean differences between the two measures according to the Bland-Altman plot. The average score of satisfaction is 65.2 (+/-12) with a minimum of 35.5 and a maximum of 86.4 according to the dimensions.

Conclusion: On the technical level, the French version of the WOMBLSQ4 fully meets the criteria for the measurement of quality of care in obstetrics. The internal validity and reproducibility of the WOMBLSQ4 in French are satisfactory. However, in order to obtain results that can be fully interpreted in a French-speaking population, a transcultural adaptation should be considered for certain elements of the questionnaire.