Development and Testing of Women's Perception for the Scale of Supportive Care Given During Labor

The aim of this study was to develop and validate women's perceptions of the supportive care received during labor. This study had a methodological design. A total of 360 women giving birth at two state hospitals in 2012 participated. Written permission was obtained from the Ethics Committee, the hospitals, and the participants. Data were collected via participant characteristics forms and the Scale of Women's Perception for Supportive Care Given During Labor. Content validity of the scale (0.94) was achieved with expert views. Three factors—comfortable behaviors, education, and disturbing behaviors—were exposed to exploratory factor analysis, and factor loading varied between 0.38 and 0.76. The factor structures were confirmed by confirmatory factor analysis. Cronbach's coefficient was 0.94 for the scale, 0.92 for comforting behaviors, 0.85 for education, and 0.87 for disturbing behaviors. The correlation coefficient between the first and second part of the scale was 0.80. Item-total point correlations of the scale varied between 0.42 and 0.77. The scale was valid and reliable for measuring women's perception of supportive care given during labor. It can be used to determine the care aspects that midwives/nurses should develop, to improve the quality of care, and to help women have more positive labor experiences and higher labor satisfaction.