Exploring the Psychometric Properties of the Professional Issues in Maternal Mental Health Scale (PIMMHS) in a Chinese Population

Overview

Journal Health Qual Life Outcomes

Publisher Biomed Central

Specialty Public Health

Date 2023 Mar 27

PMID 36973784

Authors

Lu Lin

Huimin Guo

Qian Fang

Colin R Martin

Aiying Jin

Congyan Xie

Li Tian

Julie Jomeen

Affiliations

Soon will be listed here.

Abstract

Background: The public health and economic implications of perinatal mental health problems are well documented. Maternity clinicians are ideally placed to effectively identify women at risk and facilitate early intervention. However, in China as globally a number of issues are implicated in a failure to recognise and treat.

Aim: The present study sought to develop and evaluate the Chinese version 'professional issues in maternal mental health' scale (PIMMHS), explore its psychometric properties and potential application.

Methods: A cross-sectional design and instrument translation and evaluation approach was taken to investigate the psychometric properties of the PIMMHS in a Chinese population. A total of 598 obstetricians, obstetric nurses, and midwives participated in this study from 26 hospitals across China.

Findings: The Chinese PIMMHS was not a good fit to the original two factor model. The emotion/communication subscale yielded an excellent fit to the data according to all fit indices, offering compelling evidence for a single factor solution. The training (PIMMHS: Training), proved problematic throughout the analysis with divergent validity for the training subscale also being poor with a concomitant impact on the total scale performance. The performance of this subscale may be related to the nature of medical training and PMH.

Conclusion: The Chinese PIMMHS comprises a unidimensional scale of emotion/ communication, which is simple and may provide insight into the emotional burden of providing PMH care, with the potential to mitigate that burden. Further development and investigation of the training sub-scale could be of value.

References

Lilja G, Edhborg M, Nissen E . Depressive mood in women at childbirth predicts their mood and relationship with infant and partner during the first year postpartum. Scand J Caring Sci. 2011; 26(2):245-53. DOI: 10.1111/j.1471-6712.2011.00925.x. View

Bentler P . Comparative fit indexes in structural models. Psychol Bull. 1990; 107(2):238-46. DOI: 10.1037/0033-2909.107.2.238. View

Noonan M, Doody O, ORegan A, Jomeen J, Galvin R . Irish general practitioners' view of perinatal mental health in general practice: a qualitative study. BMC Fam Pract. 2018; 19(1):196. PMC: 6293539. DOI: 10.1186/s12875-018-0884-5. View

Milgrom J, Gemmill A, Bilszta J, Hayes B, Barnett B, Brooks J . Antenatal risk factors for postnatal depression: a large prospective study. J Affect Disord. 2007; 108(1-2):147-57. DOI: 10.1016/j.jad.2007.10.014. View

Pope C, Xie B, Sharma V, Campbell M . A prospective study of thoughts of self-harm and suicidal ideation during the postpartum period in women with mood disorders. Arch Womens Ment Health. 2013; 16(6):483-8. DOI: 10.1007/s00737-013-0370-y. View

Sockol L, Epperson C, Barber J . Preventing postpartum depression: a meta-analytic review. Clin Psychol Rev. 2013; 33(8):1205-17. PMC: 4104584. DOI: 10.1016/j.cpr.2013.10.004. View

Slomian J, Honvo G, Emonts P, Reginster J, Bruyere O . Consequences of maternal postpartum depression: A systematic review of maternal and infant outcomes. Womens Health (Lond). 2019; 15:1745506519844044. PMC: 6492376. DOI: 10.1177/1745506519844044. View

Austin M, Priest S, Sullivan E . Antenatal psychosocial assessment for reducing perinatal mental health morbidity. Cochrane Database Syst Rev. 2008; (4):CD005124. PMC: 4171384. DOI: 10.1002/14651858.CD005124.pub2. View

Edge D . Falling through the net - black and minority ethnic women and perinatal mental healthcare: health professionals' views. Gen Hosp Psychiatry. 2010; 32(1):17-25. DOI: 10.1016/j.genhosppsych.2009.07.007. View

10.

Jomeen J, Jarrett P, Martin C . Professional issues in maternal mental health scale (PIMMHS): The development and initial validation of a brief and valid measure. Eur J Midwifery. 2021; 2:2. PMC: 7846036. DOI: 10.18332/ejm/83276. View

11.

Vliegen N, Casalin S, Luyten P, Docx R, Lenaerts M, Tang E . Hospitalization-based treatment for postpartum depressed mothers and their babies: rationale, principles, and preliminary follow-up data. Psychiatry. 2013; 76(2):150-68. DOI: 10.1521/psyc.2013.76.2.150. View

12.

Wallston K, Stein M, Smith C . Form C of the MHLC scales: a condition-specific measure of locus of control. J Pers Assess. 1994; 63(3):534-53. DOI: 10.1207/s15327752jpa6303_10. View

13.

Wang S, Chen C, Chin C, Lee S . Impact of postpartum depression on the mother-infant couple. Birth. 2005; 32(1):39-44. DOI: 10.1111/j.0730-7659.2005.00335.x. View

14.

Cust F . Identifying perinatal depression and anxiety: evidence based practice in screening, psychosocial assessment and management. J Reprod Infant Psychol. 2018; 35(3):318-319. DOI: 10.1080/02646838.2017.1315633. View

15.

Ip W, Martin C . The Chinese version of the multidimensional health locus of control scale form C in pregnancy. J Psychosom Res. 2006; 61(6):821-7. DOI: 10.1016/j.jpsychores.2006.08.011. View

16.

Barr J, Beck C . Infanticide secrets: qualitative study on postpartum depression. Can Fam Physician. 2008; 54(12):1716-1717.e5. PMC: 2602639. View

17.

Noonan M, Doody O, Jomeen J, Galvin R . Midwives' perceptions and experiences of caring for women who experience perinatal mental health problems: An integrative review. Midwifery. 2017; 45:56-71. DOI: 10.1016/j.midw.2016.12.010. View