Development and Validation of a Questionnaire to Assess the Risk Factors, Facilitators, and Barriers to Postpartum Weight Management

Background: Postpartum period is associated with significant weight retention and weight gain. The aim of this study was to develop and validate a comprehensive questionnaire to assess the risk factors, facilitators, and barriers to postpartum weight management.

Methodology: The development and validation were done in five major steps by applying a mixed-method study design. Items were generated through literature review, focus group discussions, and in-depth interviews, followed by the assessment of content validity, face validity, construct validity, and reliability.

Result: The final questionnaire comprises 36 items which are split into five major domains assessing perceptions related to body weight, eating behaviour, physical activity, sleep pattern, and beliefs/myths associated with postpartum period. The questionnaire has a satisfactory construct validity through factor analysis (65.12) and good internal consistency and reliability with a Cronbach's alpha of 0.79.

Conclusion: This is a comprehensive tool to assess the risk factors, facilitators, and barriers to postpartum weight management and will aid in developing women centric strategies to curb the problem.

Supplementary information: The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1007/s13224-022-01631-0.