Validation of Prenatal Obsession Compulsion Scale-Short Form

Abstract

The purpose of conducting this study was to validate the Prenatal Obsession Compulsion Scale-Short Form (POCS-SF) of the original 40 items version of Prenatal Obsession Compulsion Scale (POCS). Cross-sectional correlational research design was applied and data was collected between January to May, 2020. The study comprised of two phases. In Phase I, confirmatory factor analysis was conducted on a purposively selected sample of 472 pregnant females (Mage= 28.49 years, SD=6.32) who attended gynecological wards of private and public hospitals at least twice in Gujrat. POCS (Kiran, Shafiq, & Anjum, 2020) with 40 items was administered along with demographic sheet and informed consent form. Confirmatory factor analysis confirmed 24 items in POCS-SF with good model fit indices, having significance level p<0.01, CFI=0.93, TLI=0.92, IFI=0.93, and RMSEA= 0.06. In Phase II, 120 pregnant ladies (Mage= 26.48 years, SD=4.31) were approached by purposive sampling technique who have at least two previous visits in the hospitals. Prenatal Obsession Compulsion Scale-Short Form (POCS-SF), Scale for Adjustment Problems of Adults (SAPA, Naz, Bano, & Leghari, 2018) and Obsessive Compulsive Scale (OCS, Prewesh, 2020) were used. Results showed that POCS and OCS have acceptable convergent validity whereas POCS and anxiety, conduct and depression have satisfactory discriminant validity. The Cronbach alpha reliability coefficient is 0.89. POCS-SF with 24 items and three subscales namely obsessions, compulsions, and relational impairments has been found to be a valid and reliable tool which can be applied safely in pregnant women to screen them for Obsessive Compulsive symptoms in gynecological and psychiatric settings of Pakistani hospitals. Keywords: Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder, Pregnancy, Prenatal Care, Prenatal Education.