Summary

Measurement of the quality of prenatal care is an essential step in evaluating its effectiveness. The Quality of Prenatal Care Questionnaire (QPCQ) was developed demonstrating construct validity as well as acceptable internal consistency and test-retest reliability. It reflects the woman’s perception of the quality of prenatal care she received.

The Quality of Prenatal Care Questionnaire is a self-report, 46-item instrument with 6 subscales, which were validated by confirmatory factor analysis. The subscales are Information Sharing, Anticipatory Guidance, Sufficient Time, Approachability, Availability, and Support and Respect. Construct validity of the original QPCQ was further demonstrated using a hypothesis testing approach; there was a significant positive association between women’s ratings of the quality of prenatal care and their satisfaction with care.

The QPCQ is intended to be completed by women after 36 weeks of pregnancy or within the first 6 weeks postpartum. It can be used by researchers to compare quality of prenatal care across regions, populations and service delivery models, and to examine relationships between quality of care and a variety of maternal and infant health outcomes. The QPCQ also can be used in quality assurance and improvement work.

To meet increasing demand for electronic versions of questionnaires, the QPCQ is available in electronic format as well as in hardcopy. MILO is working closely with translation companies to review electronic conversions of all questionnaires in its library. MILO is also continuing to increase the portfolio of validated translations for questionnaires.