[German Version of the Childbirth Self-Efficacy Inventory and its Short Form].

BACKGROUND: The Childbirth Self-Efficacy Inventory (CBSEI) is an instrument that measures women's perceived self-efficacy towards labour. It is used in 9 countries, a 32-item short form (CBSEI-C32) in 4 countries. German versions of the CBSEI and the CBSEI-C32 have not been developed thus far.

METHODS: A forward-backward translation was performed, followed by administration of both instruments to a sample of 155 participants of antenatal classes. Pregnant women answered questions regarding their medical history and user-friendliness of the instruments. 80 respondents completed the CBSEI, 75 the CBSEI-C32. Reliability via Cronbach alpha was calculated for the 4 subscales of the CBSEI and the 2 subscales of the short form. Validity was only assessed for the 2 scales of the CBSEI-C32 because all women (n=155) completed this instrument.

RESULTS: 2 Cronbach alpha values were greater than 0.74 (adequate), the others greater than 0.80 (good). Most of the factors of the CBSEI-C32 (75%) were above ≥0.5. Calculation of the item-to-total-correlations revealed that the exclusion of 3 items might be indicated for the German version. The short form showed a significant association between level of education and perceived self-efficacy (p=0.01). RESULTS in the area of user-friendliness were more encouraging for the CBSEI-C32 than for the CBSEI.

CONCLUSION: The German version of the CBSEI is a useful instrument which may improve advice and counselling during prenatal care in Germany.