Measuring the Developing Therapeutic Relationship Between Pregnant Women and Community Health Workers Over the Course of the Pregnancy in a Study Intervention.
The Scale to Assess the Therapeutic Relationship in Community Mental Health Care (STAR) is a frequently-administered tool for measuring therapeutic relationships between clinicians and patients. This manuscript tested the STAR's psychometric properties within a community health worker (CHW)-led intervention study involving pregnant and postpartum women. Women (n = 141) enrolled in the study completed the 12-item participant STAR survey (STAR-P) at two time points over the course of pregnancy and at two time points after delivery. The factor structure of the STAR-P proved to be unstable with this population. However, a revised 9-item STAR-P revealed a two-factor model of positive and negative interactions, and demonstrated strong internal consistency at postpartum time points. The revised STAR-P shows strong psychometric properties, and is suitable for use to evaluate the relationship developed between CHWs and pregnant and postpartum women in an intervention program.
Department of Global Environmental Health Sciences, Tulane University School of Public Health and Tropical Medicine, New Orleans, LA, USA.
Maureen Y
MY
Lichtveld
Department of Biostatistics, Tulane University School of Public Health and Tropical Medicine, New Orleans, LA, USA.
Arti
A
Shankar
Department of Global Environmental Health Sciences, Tulane University School of Public Health and Tropical Medicine, New Orleans, LA, USA. camundorf@gmail.com.
Chris
C
Mundorf
Department of Global Environmental Health Sciences, Tulane University School of Public Health and Tropical Medicine, New Orleans, LA, USA.
Anna
A
Hassan
Department of Psychiatry, Tulane University School of Medicine, New Orleans, LA, USA.
Stacy
S
Drury
D000328:Adult; D003150:Community Health Workers; D003376:Counseling; D005163:Factor Analysis, Statistical; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D058725:Peripartum Period; D011247:Pregnancy; D011369:Professional-Patient Relations; D011594:Psychometrics; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D055815:Young Adult
Community health worker; Exploratory factor analysis; Pregnancy; Psychometric scale adaptation; STAR