Design and Psychometrics Properties of Postpartum Sexual and Reproductive Health Questionnaire: An Exploratory Mixed Methods Study Protocol (Preprint)

BACKGROUND The researchers decided to develop a questionnaire to investigate mothers’ sexual and reproductive health during this period by investigating the understanding of women of the concept of sexual and reproductive health. OBJECTIVE Explaining the concept of sexual and reproductive health in women in the postpartum period METHODS This research will be conducted using a sequential exploratory combination design with the aim of classical instrument design. The study will be done in 2 stages. The first stage will include the evaluation and investigation of women's understanding of the concept of sexual health and fertility in the postpartum period. To this end, a qualitative study will be performed using a conventional content analysis approach and in-depth, semi-structured face-to-face interviews. The target population will include women in the first 6 weeks to 12 months after giving birth who refer to health centers in Ilam City (if necessary, some of these women's spouses or nurses can also be interviewed). In the second stage, using the results of the qualitative section and literature review, the evaluation of the criteria will be done to complete the items, and finally, the items of the new questionnaire will be determined. RESULTS Most of the existing questionnaires are either general tools for examining sexual and reproductive health or questionnaires for investigating sexual performance. As a result, sexual and reproductive health during the postpartum period has been neglected. So far, no study has been dedicated to specifically explaining women’s understanding of the concept of sexual and reproductive health in the postpartum period or to developing a tool to evaluate this aspect of women’s health based on the obtained results. CONCLUSIONS It is expected that by using the findings obtained from the first stage of this study, it would be possible to design a tool that can specifically examine sexual and reproductive health in the postpartum period.