Adaptation and psychometric assessment of the postpartum childcare stress checklist among Arab women in the United Arab Emirates

Problem: There is currently no validated version of the Postpartum Childcare Stress Checklist (PCSC) in the context of Arabic-speaking women in the United Arab Emirates (UAE).

Background: The postpartum period is a transformative phase in a woman's life, during which mothers are highly vulnerable to mental health problems, compounded by childcare demands. Childcare stress is a strong predictor of postpartum depression. Thus, there is a need for a validated Arabic measure of childcare stress.

Aim: This study aims to translate and psychometrically evaluate the Arabic version of the PCSC among mothers residing in the UAE.

Methods: The PCSC was psychometrically assessed in a cohort of 399 women in the UAE between February 2017 and September 2018. Using best practices in instrument translation; psychometric evaluation included item-test and item-total correlations, confirmatory factor analysis, tests at two-time points, and validity tests.

Results: The analysis produced a 19-item scale in both unidimensional and multidimensional formats, with Geomin rotated factor loadings ranging from 0.31 to 0.84 and an average variance of 0.46, demonstrating adequate validity. The Arabic PCSC had acceptable reliability coefficients at three (α= = 0.79) and six (α=0.80) months and adequate concurrent and predictive validity at three and six months postpartum.

Discussion: Childcare stress is an internationally reliable and validated construct. The PCSC was also positively correlated with depressive and anxiety symptoms.

Conclusion: The Arabic PCSC is a psychometrically validated measure which can be used in future Arabic-language studies and may lead to improved interventions for maternal mental health across Arab-speaking communities.