Adaptation into Pidgin English and Validation of the Birth Satisfaction Scale-Revised in Selected Hospitals in Owerri, Imo State, Nigeria

Abstract

Birth satisfaction is an important indicator of the quality of perinatal care and maternal well-being, yet culturally appropriate tools for assessing it among diverse language groups remain limited. In multilingual settings such as Nigeria, where Nigerian Pidgin is widely spoken across educational levels, adapting the Birth Satisfaction Scale-Revised (BSS-R) into Pidgin English is necessary to improve accessibility and accuracy in measuring women’s birth experiences. This study adapted and validated the Birth Satisfaction Scale-Revised for perinatal care in Nigerian Pidgin English version among postnatal women in selected hospitals in Owerri, Imo State, Nigeria. A sequential multiphasicdesign comprising adaptation and validation phases was adopted. Five experts validated the adapted version. Stratified random sampling was used to recruit 706 postnatal mothers from two public and two private hospitals in Owerri Municipal. Data were collected using a four-item demographic questionnaire, the Original English version of the BSS-R, and the adapted Pidgin English. Data collection involved administering the Pidgin English BSS-R first, followed by the criterion tool at 5-minute intervals, after obtaining informed consent and ethical approval. Data were analysed using descriptive statistics, expert agreement analysis was used for content validity, Pearson correlation analysis was used for concurrent validity (as a measure of reliability) of the adapted Pidgin English BSS-R. The translation and adaptation process involved forward translation, expert panel review, and back-translation, yielding strong expert agreement on the semantic equivalence of the Pidgin English version and Original English version with a content validity index of 0.940. The concurrent validity between the adapted Pidgin English version and the Original English BSS-R was 0.986. In conclusion, the adapted Nigerian Pidgin English BSS-R demonstrated excellent content validity and strong concurrent validity. The Pidgin English BSS-R should be adopted for clinical practice and research in multilingual Nigerian settings to improve culturally appropriate assessment of maternal birth experiences.