Preconception health behaviours of women planning a Pregnancy: A scale development study.

Objectives: This study aims to develop a health behaviour scale for the preconception period and assess the preconception health behaviours of women who have applied to the municipality for marriage and are planning a pregnancy within a year.

Method: This is a methodological and descriptive study. While the exploratory and confirmatory factor analysis, the test-retest method and Cronbach's alpha internal consistency methods were used for data analysis in the methodological stage. The Mann-Whitney U test and Kruskal-Wallis test were used in the descriptive stage. Statistical significance was accepted as p < 0.05. In total, 260 women were enrolled in the study during the scale development stage. Upon completion of the scale development stage, for the evaluation of preconception health behaviours was conducted with 331 women who were planning pregnancy within one year.

Results: The Preconception Health Behaviours Scale consists of 18 items and 4 subscales. The Cronbach's alpha value was 0.867. The subscales "Preparation", "Coping Skills", "High-Risk Behaviours" and "Nutrition and Sleep" were found to be reliable. The mean score obtained from the scale was 29.50 ± 6.57. It was determined that level of education and level of knowledge on preconception care affected the preconception health behaviours of the women who have applied for marriage.

Conclusion: The Preconception Health Behaviours Scale is valid and highly reliable. Furthermore, a high level of education and high knowledge on preconception care affect preconception health behaviours positively.