Validation of the Malay Version of the Inventory of Functional Status after Childbirth Questionnaire

OBJECTIVE This study was designed to examine the psychometric properties of Malay version of the Inventory of Functional Status after Childbirth (IFSAC). DESIGN A cross-sectional study. MATERIALS AND METHODS A total of 108 postpartum mothers attending Obstetrics and Gynaecology Clinic, in a tertiary teaching hospital in Malaysia, were involved. Construct validity and internal consistency were performed after the translation, content validity, and face validity process. The data were analyzed using Analysis of Moment Structure version 18 and Statistical Packages for the Social Sciences version 20. RESULTS The final model consists of four constructs, namely, infant care, personal care, household activities, and social and community activities, with 18 items demonstrating acceptable factor loadings, domain to domain correlation, and best fit (Chi-squared/degree of freedom = 1.678; Tucker-Lewis index = 0.923; comparative fit index = 0.936; and root mean square error of approximation = 0.080). Composite reliability and average variance extracted of the domains ranged from 0.659 to 0.921 and from 0.499 to 0.628, respectively. CONCLUSION The study suggested that the four-factor model with 18 items of the Malay version of IFSAC was acceptable to be used to measure functional status after childbirth because it is valid, reliable, and simple.