title: Psychometric properties of a mainland Chinese version of the Iowa Infant Feeding Attitude Scale among postpartum women in China.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  The Iowa Infant Feeding Attitude Scale (IIFAS) is used to evaluate maternal infant feeding attitude. The breastfeeding rate has declined but no validated instruments to assess infant feeding attitudes or related studies have been available in mainland China.
  
  
  OBJECTIVE
  The purpose of this study was to assess the reliability and validity of a mainland Chinese version of the IIFAS among postpartum women.
  
  
  METHODS
  Postpartum women (N = 660) were recruited from three university hospitals in Guangzhou in mainland China. The participants completed an IIFAS questionnaire before being discharged and accepted telephone follow-up sessions at 6 weeks and 3 months postpartum. The reliability of the scale was evaluated using intra-class correlations (ICC) for test-retest reliability, correlated item-total correlations and Cronbach's a. The validity of the scale was evaluated using the content validity index (CVI), construct validity using exploratory factor analysis and predictive validity using independent t-tests.
  
  
  RESULTS
  The ICC was 0.861. The correlated item-total correlations ranged from 0.262-0.691. Cronbach's a was 0.623. The CVI was 0.996. Four factors were extracted using exploratory factor analysis and they contributed to 48.69% of the total variance.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The mainland Chinese version of the IIFAS scale can be considered a reliable, valid and predictive scale for assessing infant feeding attitudes among women in mainland China. In-hospital scores on the scale were significant predictors of the infant feeding method and breastfeeding duration at 3 days, 6 weeks and 3 months postpartum. Construct validity was confirmed and showed four factors. However, future studies are required to improve the lower level internal consistency of the IIFAS.
authors.affiliation: The School of Nursing, Sun Yat-sen University, Guangzhou, China.
authors.forename: Hong-Xia
authors.initials: HX
authors.lastname: Dai
authors.forename: Xiang-Dong
authors.initials: XD
authors.lastname: Guan
authors.forename: Xiao-Mao
authors.initials: XM
authors.lastname: Li
authors.forename: Li-Ming
authors.initials: LM
authors.lastname: You
authors.forename: Ying
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Lau
mesh_terms: D002681:China; D005247:Feeding Behavior; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D018730:Infant Behavior; D007231:Infant, Newborn; D049590:Postpartum Period; D011594:Psychometrics