The prenatal psychosocial profile: A research and clinical tool

This report summarizes five studies of culturally diverse women who were administered the Prenatal Psychosocial Profile (PPP). These data from 3,444 rural and urban women of all childbearing ages support the validity and reliability of the PPP as a measure of stress, support from partner, and support from others. The self-esteem scale is a valid and reliable measure for Caucasian and African American women. However, the cultural appropriateness of the self-esteem scale for Native American women is questionable, and it is neither valid nor culturally appropriate for traditional Hispanic women. The mean scores for stress, partner support, and other support were similar for all groups except for scales expected to differ by sample groups. Thus, suggested cutoff scores should be useful for screening purposes. The PPP provides a brief, yet comprehensive profile that is accepted by participants and useful to researchers and clinicians. (C) 1998 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.