The Turkish version of the students' perceptions of respectful maternity care scale: An assessment of psychometric properties.

Aim: The aim of the research was to evaluate the psychometric properties of the Turkish validity and reliability of the Students' Perceptions of Respectful Maternity Care (SP-RMC) scale.

Background: Respectful maternity care is an important contributor to intrapartum care quality and maternal birth satisfaction. Determining students' perceptions of respectful maternity care can identify knowledge gaps and inform their future practice.

Design: A descriptive, methodological and cross-sectional design was used.

Methods: This study was conducted with 226 undergraduate nursing and midwifery students in the western region of Turkey. Data were collected between May and December 2022 from students who completed their birth courses (theory and clinical practicum). Data included sociodemographic details and the Students' Perceptions of Respectful Maternity Care scale (Turkish version). Factor analysis, Cronbach's alpha and item-total score analyses were conducted.

Results: The mean age of the students was 21.88 (SD 1.39). The average number of births observed was 2.57 (SD 3.16). The scale comprised 18 items including three subdimensions. In both exploratory and confirmatory factor tests, the overall factor loading was greater than 0.30, and the total explained variance was 64.89%. The Cronbach's alpha coefficient of the scale was 0.91, with Cronbach's alpha values ranging between 0.80 and 0.91 for the subscales. Pearson correlation coefficients of all the items ranged between 0.42 and 0.78.

Conclusions: The SP-RMC (Turkish version) is a valid and reliable measure, with 18 items and three dimensions. In this regard, measuring and reporting respectful maternity care perceptions and intrapartum care experiences of students, who are future members of the profession, could contribute to the improvement of the quality of care and the development of educational interventions for behavioral changes.