The development and psychometric testing of the Supportive Needs of Adolescents Breastfeeding Scale.
OBJECTIVE
To report the development and psychometric testing of the Supportive Needs of Adolescents Breastfeeding Scale.


BACKGROUND
Nurses worldwide can influence adolescent mothers' decisions to initiate and continue breastfeeding through understanding their social support needs in the early postpartum. Review of the literature reveals a lack of instruments that measure adolescents' perceptions of supportive nursing behaviours when initiating breastfeeding.


METHODS
An instrument development and psychometric evaluation study was conducted. In phase 1, scale items were developed from the literature using social support theory. Eight lactation consultants evaluated the scale's content validity in phase 2. During phase 3, the psychometric properties of the scale were tested using item analysis, scale reliability, and exploratory factor analysis. A convenience sample of 101 adolescents, aged 15-20 years old, was recruited during their postpartum stay at three hospitals in the USA between July 2009-July 2010.


RESULTS
Content validity index was 0·82. Alpha estimate of internal consistency was 0·83. Principal components analysis resulted in a 3 factor scale that explained 48% of the total variance: Practical support, Informational support and Miscellaneous.


CONCLUSIONS
The findings suggest evidence of the scale's adequate internal consistency. The factor analysis suggests two clear underlying dimensions of support: instrumental/emotional/appraisal and informational/emotional/appraisal, and a third miscellaneous dimension related to immediate skin-to-skin care and mothers' support persons. Further exploration of the possible global implications of the scale's dimensions is needed.
School of Nursing, Boise State University, Idaho, USA. janegrassley@boisestate.edu
Jane S
JS
Grassley
Becky S
BS
Spencer
Deborah
D
Bryson
D000293:Adolescent; D001942:Breast Feeding / Q000523:psychology*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008425:Maternal Behavior / Q000523:psychology*; D016389:Maternal-Child Nursing; D011594:Psychometrics / Q000379:methods*; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D012944:Social Support; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires / Q000592:standards*; D055815:Young Adult