Development of a Questionnaire to Assess the Psychosocial Effects of COVID-19 on Peripartum Women

Objective The social and behavioral changes brought about by the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic have led to adverse consequences on the psychosocial functioning of peripartum women Therefore, we developed and validated a tool to assess the psychosocial effect of the pandemic among these women Methods The questionnaire was developed using a scientifically accepted systematic methodology comprising literature search, focus-group discussion (FGD), expert evaluation, pretesting, and validation Results The final questionnaire consists of 38 questions, and it has a Cronbach's alpha value of 0 90 and a Kaiser-Meyer-Olkin (KMO) value of 0 773 Conclusion The questionnaire has good reliability and face, content, and construct validity It can be used to assess the psychosocial functioning of peripartum women in low middle-income countries and help perinatal mental health specialists to devise strategies to cope with the psychological impact of COVID-19-like pandemics on peripartum women