How to measure prenatal stress? : a systematic review of psychometric instruments to assess psychosocial stress during pregnancy

Nast, Irina; Bolten, Margarete; Meinlschmidt, Gunther; Hellhammer, Dirk H.

doi:10.1111/ppe.12051

Publication type:	Article in scientific journal
Type of review:	Peer review (publication)
Title:	How to measure prenatal stress? : a systematic review of psychometric instruments to assess psychosocial stress during pregnancy
Authors:	Nast, Irina Bolten, Margarete Meinlschmidt, Gunther Hellhammer, Dirk H.
DOI:	10.1111/ppe.12051
Published in:	Allergology International
Volume(Issue):	27
Issue:	4
Page(s):	313
Pages to:	322
Issue Date:	Jul-2013
Publisher / Ed. Institution:	The Japanese Society of Allergology
ISSN:	1440-1592 1323-8930
Language:	English
Subjects:	Anxiety Disorders; Depressive Disorder; Female; Humans; Mental Disorders; Pregnancy; Pregnancy Complications; Prenatal Exposure Delayed Effects; Psychiatric Status Rating Scales; Psychometrics; Reproducibility of Results; Stress, Psychological
Subject (DDC):	150: Psychology 618: Gynecology, obstetrics and midwifery
Abstract:	Background: A growing body of literature documents associations of maternal psychosocial stress during pregnancy with fetal, infant and child behaviour and development. However, findings across studies are often inconsistent, which may in part be due to differences in stress definitions and assessments. Methods: We systematically reviewed methods applied to assess maternal psychosocial stress during pregnancy in studies looking at associations with biobehavioural outcomes in the offspring. A systematic literature search was performed on Web of Science and PubMed for the time period between January 1999 and October 2009. Psychometric instruments assessing maternal psychosocial stress during pregnancy were identified and described if data on psychometric properties were available. Results: We identified 115 publications that assessed psychosocial stress during pregnancy with validated methods. These publications applied overall 43 different instruments assessing constructs falling under seven categories, ordered according to their frequency of use: anxiety, depression, daily hassles, aspects of psychological symptomatology (not reduced to anxiety or depression), life events, specific socio‐environmental stressors and stress related to pregnancy and parenting. If available, we provide information on validity and reliability of the instruments for samples of pregnant women. Conclusions: Within the ‘prenatal stress’ research, a broad range of instruments is applied to assess psychosocial stress during pregnancy. Prenatal stress research should take into consideration that the variety of methods in use might hamper the comparability of stress research results. In each category of stress constructs, one instrument with good psychometric properties in pregnant women is highlighted as the best currently available measure.
URI:	https://digitalcollection.zhaw.ch/handle/11475/14512
Fulltext version:	Published version
License (according to publishing contract):	Licence according to publishing contract
Departement:	School of Health Sciences
Organisational Unit:	Institute of Physiotherapy (IPT)
Appears in collections:	Publikationen Gesundheit

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Nast, I., Bolten, M., Meinlschmidt, G., & Hellhammer, D. H. (2013). How to measure prenatal stress? : a systematic review of psychometric instruments to assess psychosocial stress during pregnancy. Allergology International, 27(4), 313–322. https://doi.org/10.1111/ppe.12051

Nast, I. et al. (2013) ‘How to measure prenatal stress? : a systematic review of psychometric instruments to assess psychosocial stress during pregnancy’, Allergology International, 27(4), pp. 313–322. Available at: https://doi.org/10.1111/ppe.12051.

I. Nast, M. Bolten, G. Meinlschmidt, and D. H. Hellhammer, “How to measure prenatal stress? : a systematic review of psychometric instruments to assess psychosocial stress during pregnancy,” Allergology International, vol. 27, no. 4, pp. 313–322, Jul. 2013, doi: 10.1111/ppe.12051.

NAST, Irina, Margarete BOLTEN, Gunther MEINLSCHMIDT und Dirk H. HELLHAMMER, 2013. How to measure prenatal stress? : a systematic review of psychometric instruments to assess psychosocial stress during pregnancy. Allergology International. Juli 2013. Bd. 27, Nr. 4, S. 313–322. DOI 10.1111/ppe.12051

Nast, Irina, Margarete Bolten, Gunther Meinlschmidt, and Dirk H. Hellhammer. 2013. “How to Measure Prenatal Stress? : A Systematic Review of Psychometric Instruments to Assess Psychosocial Stress during Pregnancy.” Allergology International 27 (4): 313–22. https://doi.org/10.1111/ppe.12051.

Nast, Irina, et al. “How to Measure Prenatal Stress? : A Systematic Review of Psychometric Instruments to Assess Psychosocial Stress during Pregnancy.” Allergology International, vol. 27, no. 4, July 2013, pp. 313–22, https://doi.org/10.1111/ppe.12051.