Abstract
In some contexts, including those that involve community healthcare, the functional status of mothers who have infants is of particular interest. This status has been assessed with the Barkin Index of Maternal Functioning (BIMF), proposed by its developers as an improvement over preexisting scales. The present study comprises a description and evaluation of the BIMF, which is revealed to have a number of shortcomings. Solutions proposed to overcome these shortcomings result in a new scale, the Parenting-an-Infant Competence Scale (PICS). This new scale has the prospect of greater psychometric acceptability as well as wider clinical and research applicability.
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Notes
The number of publications is likely to be underindicated because publications since mid-2019 were not sought.
To avoid textual complexity and unnecessary meticulousness, the word “factor” is used throughout this article to refer to the outcomes of exploratory factor analysis (EFA) as well as the outcomes of principal components analysis (PCA), despite the word “component” being more appropriate in the latter context. The word “domain” is used when the divisions within a construct are more conceptual than psychometric in nature.
The term “data reduction” is used in this article as an umbrella term for exploratory factor analysis (EFA) and principal components analysis (PCA), primarily because both procedures have been used in analyses involving the BIMF but it is sometimes difficult to determine which of the two procedures was actually used.
This issue was raised in the research with Iranian mothers by Ansariniaki et al. (2021). According to J. L. Barkin (personal communication, March 1, 2021), “the word rested is intended to mean feeling restored physically/emotionally.” This perspective is conveyed in the Ansariniaki et al. research where rested was replaced with relieved (rested), thus implying existence of a recent event—not necessarily childbirth—from which restoration might or might not have occurred. Whether that implication is justified may be questionable because some mothers might not readily identify an event within the previous 2 weeks from which they could, or could not, currently feel restored.
The PICS has a Flesch–Kincaid readability level of Grade 7.
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Acknowledgement
Samawit Gebeyehu from Arba Minch University, Arba Minch, Ethiopia provided data from 202 Ethiopian mothers that enabled a range of analyses to be conducted about the BIMF. Insights that arose from those analyses provided the fillip for the research presented in this article.
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Appendix: the Parenting-an-Infant Competence Scale
Appendix: the Parenting-an-Infant Competence Scale
We are interested in the feelings, perceptions, and experiences of people who have an infant less than 1 year of age. Please indicate how often each of the following statements is true for you. If an item is not relevant for you, feel free to bypass it.
Never | Very rarely | Some-times | Quite often | Very often | Almost always | Always | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
My/our infant and I seem to be in tune with each other. | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 |
I enjoy the time I spend with my/our infant. | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 |
I believe that I am a good parent. | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 |
I feel anxious or worried about my parenting abilities. | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 |
I get enough sleep. | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 |
I feel fatigued. | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 |
I experience muscle, stomach, breathing, and/or other physical problems that I think are related to having an infant. | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 |
I am able to prevent or deal with mishaps and/or accidents relating to my/our infant. | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 |
I get encouragement, helpful advice, and support from my husband (or partner), relatives, and friends. | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 |
When I want it, I can get helpful advice and support from health professionals and institutions. | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 |
I am happy with the way I look after my/our infant with regard to things such as holding, cleaning, bathing, and dressing. | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 |
Whichever method I choose, I can feed my/our infant successfully. | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 |
I am quite happy to have other people (e.g., my husband/partner, friends, or relatives) help me care for my/our infant. | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 |
I am able to attend to such things as my own diet, hygiene, and personal appearance. | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 |
I am able to think clearly about things I need to do in relation to my/our infant. | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 |
I can attend to other family/household responsibilities in addition to the direct care I give my/our infant. | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 |
I find time to do things that I enjoy—just for myself. | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 |
I am able to satisfy my needs for social interaction. | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 |
I feel in control of my life. | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 |
I/we have sufficient money to raise my/our infant in the way I/we would like to. | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 |
Never | Very rarely | Some-times | Quite often | Very often | Almost always | Always |
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Trevethan, R. The Barkin Index of Maternal Functioning: an evaluation and foundations for a new parental functioning scale. Health Serv Outcomes Res Method 22, 416–434 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10742-022-00269-9
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10742-022-00269-9