Background: Satisfaction with the birth experience has been recognized to be of significant importance to the well-being of both the mother and her relationship with the baby. Recent observations have also suggested birth satisfaction may be significantly associated with postpartum post-traumatic stress disorder (PP-PTSD). The Birth Satisfaction Scale-Revised (BSS-R) is increasingly used Internationally as a short, valid and reliable multi-dimensional measure of birth experience. The current study sought to develop a Dutch version of the BSS-R (D-BSS-R) for clinical and research application in the Netherlands.
Methods: Post-translation a cross-sectional design with an embedded between-subjects component was used to evaluate key indices of validity and reliability of the D-BSS-R in a purposive sampled cohort of 244 Dutch-speaking women in the Netherlands. Confirmatory factor analysis, divergent, convergent and known-groups discriminant validity were evaluated as was the internal consistency of the measure.
Results: The D-BSS-R was found to be a generally valid and reliable measure of birth experience with the key measurement characteristics of the original English-language measure transferring well to the Dutch context. Statistically significant negative correlations were observed between all D-BSS-R sub-scales and a validated measure of PTSD.
Conclusions: The D-BSS-R represents a valid and reliable measure of birth experience suitable and appropriate for use in the Netherlands. The study corroborates previous suggestions of linkage between birth satisfaction and PP-PTSD using a robust and diagnostically valid measure of trauma. The direction of future research is indicated.