Self-efficacy in Infant Care Scale: revision and further psychometric testing.

Maternal self-efficacy is an important factor in parenting behaviors and skills. In order to assess maternal self-efficacy in infant care, a solid measure is needed. The integrity of the assessment of self-efficacy in infant care depends upon whether or not an instrument possesses proper measurement properties. The purpose of this study was to revise the scale items and examine the further psychometric properties of the Self-efficacy in Infant Care Scale. Using a sample of 235 Thai mothers, the revised Scale, with 44 items, was found to have internal consistency and test-retest reliability values of 0.96 and 0.93, respectively. A confirmatory factor analysis supported the hypothesized structure. Also, the revised Scale was found to be correlated with a measure of a theoretically related construct; that is, the Parenting Stress Index/Short Form. The psychometric testing results suggest that the revised Scale can be used as an assessment tool for both research and clinical purposes.