The development of two postnatal health instruments: one for mothers (M-PHI) and one for fathers (F-PHI) to measure health during the first year of parenting

To develop and psychometrically evaluate two questionnaires measuring both positive and negative postnatal health of mothers
(M-PHI) and fathers (F-PHI) during the first year of parenting.

The M-PHI and the F-PHI were developed in four stages. Stage 1: Postnatal women’s focus group (M-PHI) and postnatal fathers’
postal questionnaire (F-PHI); Stage 2: Qualitative interviews; Stage 3: Pilot postal survey and main postal survey; and Stage
4: Test–retest postal survey.

The M-PHI consisted of a 29-item core questionnaire with six main scales and five conditional scales. The F-PHI consisted
of a 27-item questionnaire with six main scales. All scales achieved good internal reliability (Cronbach’s α 0.66–0.87 for
M-PHI, 0.72–0.90 for F-PHI). Intraclass correlation coefficients demonstrated high test–retest reliability (0.60–0.88). Correlation
coefficients supported the criterion validity of the M-PHI and the F-PHI when tested against the Short-Form-12 (SF-12), Edinburgh
Postnatal Depression Scale (EPDS) and the Warwick and Edinburgh Mental Well-Being Scale (WEMWBS).

The M-PHI and F-PHI are valid, reliable, parent-generated instruments. These unique instruments will be invaluable for practitioners
wishing to promote family-centred care and for trialists and other researchers requiring a validated instrument to measure
both positive and negative health during the first postnatal year, as to date no such measurement has existed.