Validation of the Wijma Delivery Expectancy/Experience Questionnaire (Version B) Among Greek Postpartum Women

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Background/Objectives: Postnatal fear of childbirth (FOC) has a significant impact on women’s mental health following childbirth. A widely employed tool for evaluating postnatal FOC is the Wijma Delivery Expectancy/Experience Questionnaire version B (W-DEQ-B). This study aimed to validate the Greek version of the W-DEQ-B (GrW-DEQ-B) and confirm its reliability among Greek postpartum women having a low-risk pregnancy. Methods: At four weeks postpartum, 200 mothers after a low-risk pregnancy completed questionnaires, which included the GrW-DEQ-B and the Edinburgh Postnatal Depression Scale (EPDS). Results: The majority of participants had a vaginal delivery (80%), 52.0% of the sample were primigravida, and the mean gestational age at delivery was 38.8 weeks (SD = 0.8). The exploratory factor analysis yielded six factors (“Lack of self-efficacy”, “Lack of positive anticipation”, “Lack of feeling lonely”, “Concerns about delivery and losing control”, “Calmness”, and “Concern for the child”) of 33 items from the W-DEQ-B. The instrument’s multidimensionality was verified by the confirmatory factor analysis (RMSEA = 0.07; CFI = 0.90; TLI = 0.88). All Cronbach’s alphas were over 0.7, indicating acceptable reliability of the factors. Almost all factors of the GrW-DEQ-B were significantly correlated with each other (p < 0.001), demonstrating the convergent validity of the tool. Significant correlations were found between almost all dimensions of the GrW-DEQ-B and the EPDS (p < 0.001), indicating the divergent validity of the tool. Conclusions: This study provides evidence that the Greek version of the W-DEQ-B proved to be a reliable and valid measure of FOC among Greek postpartum women.