Negative Perceptions of Pregnancy Scale: A Scale Development Study.

Background and Purpose: This study was conducted to develop a measurement tool to determine the perception of pregnancy. Methods: The scale was developed in four main stages: the design and development of the items, submitting the draft form to expert opinion, administration of the scale, and performing construct validity and reliability analyses. The study data were collected from 327 women with pregnancies between May 1, 2020, and February 1, 2021. The Statistical Package for the Social Sciences 22 and LISREL software packages were used to evaluate the data. Results: The result of the exploratory factor analysis of the scale indicated that there were three factors with an eigenvalue of greater than 1 and that the factors explained 54.152% of the total variance. Cronbach's alpha values of the factors were .84, .80, and .81, respectively. Conclusions: Considering the factor structure, item-total test correlations, and reliability coefficients, the negative perceptions of the pregnancy scale that was developed in this study can be used to determine the perception of pregnancy.

Perceived Sleep Quality and Fatigue in a Population of New Mothers: A Cross-Sectional Study Comparing Relationships with Breastfeeding and Bottle Feeding.

Introduction: This study, which used a cross-sectional design, was carried out to examine the factors associated with the way mothers fed their infants such as breastfeeding or bottle feeding, and to compare perceived sleep quality and fatigue levels. Method: The study sample consisted of a total of 100 women in the 4th to 16th week postpartum, including 50 women breastfeeding and 50 women bottle feeding their infants. The data of the study were collected in Family Health Centers (FHC) through the face-to-face interview technique using "a Personal Information Form," "the Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index-PSQI," and "the Checklist Individual Strength-CIS." Results: The mothers' total sleep quality (PSQI) score was found to not differ significantly according to the type of infant feeding. Similarly, total scores for fatigue assessment obtained from the CIS did not differ according to the infant feeding type variable. A significant positive correlation was found between total sleep quality and total fatigue level, and subjective fatigue level. Discussion: The sleep quality and fatigue levels of mothers are independent of the method of feeding their infants. Midwives should plan initiatives with parents to improve maternal sleep quality and reduce fatigue levels and inform parents that breastfeeding is not a factor that reduces sleep quality or increases fatigue. Clinical Trials.gov ID: 1129/5463.