Purpose: The aim of this paper is to develop a scale for measuring the perinatal bereavement care
competence of midwives and assess its psychometric properties.
Methods: The Perinatal Bereavement Care Competence Scale was developed in four phases. (1) Item
generation: 75 items were formulated based on a literature review and interviews with midwives. (2)
Delphi expert consultation: 15 experts evaluated whether the items were clear/appropriate/relevant to
the questionnaire dimensions, and the items were optimized. (3) Pilot test: The comprehensibility,
acceptability, and time required to complete the questionnaire by midwives were assessed. (4) Evaluation
of reliability and validity: The scale was validated by initial item analysis, exploratory and confirmatory
factor analyses, and internal consistency reliability and testeretest reliability.
Results: The final scale consisted of six dimensions and 25 items: maintaining belief (three items),
knowing (four items), being with (six items), preserving dignity (four items), enabling (five items), and
self-adjustment (three items). Exploratory factor analysis yielded a six-factor structure that was
consistent with the theoretical framework and explained 70.8% of the total variance. Confirmatory factor
analysis indicated a good fit for the six-factor model. Cronbach's a for the scale was 0.931, and the test
eretest reliability coefficient was 0.968.
Conclusion: The Perinatal Bereavement Care Competence Scale is a valid and reliable instrument for
measuring the competence of midwives in caring for bereaved parents who have experienced perinatal
loss.