Development of the inventory of functional status after childbirth

The Inventory of Functional Status After Childbirth (IFSAC) contains five subscales designed to measure the mother's readiness to assume infant care and to resume selfcare, household, social and community, and occupational activities following childbirth. Content validity was established at 96.7%. Cronbach's alpha internal consistency reliability coefficients ranged from 0.56-0.98 for the five subscales. Average correlations for the subscale item to subscale total scores ranged from 0.51-0.78. Subscale to total IFSAC score correlations ranged from 0.53-0.90. Test-retest reliability coefficients for a 4-7 day interval ranged from 0.48-0.93. Initial construct validity testing was accomplished by comparing recovery rates for vaginally and cesarean delivered women. The multidimensionality of the concept of functional status after childbirth was supported empirically, with the magnitude of IFSAC subscale correlations ranging from 0.01-0.53. Further psychometric testing of the IFSAC with large samples of childbearing women is warranted. Clinicians may use the IFSAC to assess functional status following childbirth.