Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2025 Jun;48(2):213-221.
doi: 10.1177/01632787241239339. Epub 2024 Mar 12.

Translation and Validation of the City Birth Trauma Scale With Lithuanian Postpartum Women: Findings and Initial Results

Olga Riklikienė  1 , Gabija Jarašiūnaitė-Fedosejeva  2 , Ernesta Sakalauskienė  1 , Žydrūnė Luneckaitė  1 , Susan Ayers  3
Affiliations

Translation and Validation of the City Birth Trauma Scale With Lithuanian Postpartum Women: Findings and Initial Results

Olga Riklikienė et al. Eval Health Prof. 2025 Jun.

Abstract

The childbirth experience and birth-related trauma are influenced by various factors, including country, healthcare system, a woman's history of traumatic experiences, and the study's design and instruments. This study aimed to validate the City Birth Trauma scale for Lithuanian women post-childbirth. Using a descriptive, cross-sectional survey with a nonprobability sample of 794 women who gave birth from 2020-2021, the study found good validity, reliability, and presented the prevalence of birth-related stress symptoms. A bifactor model, consisting of a general birth trauma factor and two specific factors for birth-related symptoms and general symptoms of PTSD, showed the best model fit. The Lithuanian version of the City Birth Trauma scale can be effectively used in research and clinical practice to identify birth-related trauma symptoms in women after giving birth.

Keywords: City BiTS; Lithuania; perinatal mental health; trauma; validation.

PubMed Disclaimer

Conflict of interest statement

Declaration of Conflicting InterestsThe author(s) declared the following potential conflicts of interest with respect to the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article: Susan Ayers developed the City Birth Trauma Scale.

Similar articles

See all similar articles

Cited by

References

    1. Ayers S. (2014). Fear of childbirth, postnatal post-traumatic stress disorder and midwifery care. Midwifery, 30(2), 145–148. 10.1016/j.midw.2013.12.001 - DOI - PubMed
    1. Ayers S., Harris R., Sawyer A., Parfitt Y., Ford E. (2009). Posttraumatic stress disorder after childbirth: Analysis of symptom presentation and sampling. Journal of Affective Disorders, 119(1–3), 200–204. 10.1016/j.jad.2009.02.029 - DOI - PubMed
    1. Ayers S., Wright D. B., Thornton A. (2018). Development of a measure of postpartum PTSD: The city birth trauma scale. Frontiers in Psychiatry, 9(1), 409. 10.3389/fpsyt.2018.00409 - DOI - PMC - PubMed
    1. Bayri Bingol F., Bal M. D., Dişsiz M., Sormageç M. T., Yildiz P. (2021). Validity and reliability of the Turkish version of the city birth trauma scale (CityBiTS). Journal of Obstetrics and Gynaecology, 41(7), 1023–1031. 10.1080/01443615.2020.1821354 - DOI - PubMed
    1. Bland J. M., Altman D. G. (1997). Statistics notes: Cronbach’s alpha. BMJ, 314(7080), 572. 10.1136/bmj.314.7080.572 - DOI - PMC - PubMed

Publication types

LinkOut - more resources