Reliability and validity of the Chinese version of the self-efficacy scale for practicing pelvic floor exercises in postpartum Chinese women

Objective

To translate the self-efficacy scale for practicing pelvic floor exercises (SESPPFE) into Chinese and explore its reliability and validity among postpartum Chinese women.

Methods

The SESPPFE was translated into Chinese and adjusted for cultural adaptation. A total of 176 eligible postpartum women who visited a postpartum pelvic floor clinic in Beijing were selected for inclusion via convenience sampling from June to November 2018. The content validity, test–retest reliability, construct validity, and internal consistency were calculated.

Results

The Chinese version of the SESPPFE presented good internal consistency with a Cronbach's α of was 0.956. The original scale have three factors. The Chinese version of the scale also extract three factors by exploratory factor analysis, and named the same as the source scale, but the certain item was assigned differently. The cumulative variance contribution rate was 79.76% and the test-retest reliability was 0.939.

Conclusion

The Chinese version of the SESPPFE is a valid and reliable tool for assessing the self-efficacy of pelvic floor exercise performance in postpartum women.