Abstract
Introduction: Preeclampsia remains a leading cause of maternal mortality worldwide and is consistently identified as the second most frequent direct cause of death during pregnancy. Accurate assessment of pregnant women’s knowledge, attitudes, and practices regarding preeclampsia requires rigorously developed and psychometrically sound instruments. This study aimed to develop and validate a reliable questionnaire to evaluate knowledge, attitudes, and practices related to preeclampsia among pregnant women.
Methods: This study employed a sequential-exploratory mixed-methods design, incorporating a systematic instrument development process to construct a questionnaire tailored to evaluate knowledge, attitudes, and practices related to preeclampsia among pregnant women.
Results: An initial pool of 34 candidate items was generated and subsequently refined to a concise 24-item instrument. The Scale Content Validity Index/Average (SCVI/Average) was 0.97, indicating outstanding content validity. Exploratory factor analysis yielded factor loadings ranging from 0.67 to 0.92, supporting the anticipated three-factor structure, with each dimension meeting established psychometric criteria. Test–retest reliability, assessed through repeated administration, yielded an intra-class correlation coefficient (ICC) of 0.90 for the total scale. Internal consistency, evaluated using Cronbach’s alpha, demonstrated excellent reliability, with an overall coefficient of 0.92 and subscale coefficients ranging from 0.89 to 0.97.
Conclusion: The finalized questionnaire is a reliable and psychometrically robust instrument for assessing pregnant women’s knowledge, attitudes, and practices regarding preeclampsia. It can be effectively utilized by healthcare administrators and policymakers to evaluate women’s understanding, perceptions, and behavioral responses related to the condition.