The New Parent Checklist: A Tool to Promote Parental Reflection.

PURPOSE: To design and establish content and face validity of an evidence-informed tool that promotes parental self-reflection during the transition to parenthood. STUDY DESIGN AND METHODS: The New Parent Checklist was developed using a three-phase sequential approach: Phase 1 a scoping review and expert consultation to develop and refine a prototype tool; Phase 2 content analysis of parent focus groups; and Phase 3 assessment of utility in a cross-sectional sample of parents completing the New Parent Checklist and a questionnaire. RESULTS: The initial version of the checklist was considered by experts to contain key information. Focus group participants found it useful, appropriate, and nonjudgmental, and offered suggestions to enhance readability, utility, as well as face and content validity. In the cross-sectional survey, 83% of the participants rated the New Parent Checklist as "helpful" or "very helpful" and 90% found the New Parent Checklist "very easy" to use. Open-ended survey responses included predominantly positive feedback. Notable differences existed for some items based on respondents' first language, age, and sex. Results and feedback from all three phases informed the current version, available for download online. CLINICAL IMPLICATIONS: The New Parent Checklist is a comprehensive evidence-informed self-reflective tool with promising content and face validity. Depending on parental characteristics and infant age, certain items of the New Parent Checklist have particular utility but may also require further adaptation and testing. Local resources for information and/or support are included in the tool and could be easily adapted by other regions to incorporate their own local resources.

A pregnancy wellness guide to enhance care through self-assessment, personal reflection, and self-referral.

OBJECTIVE: To develop a tool and evaluate its content validity and utility. The tool was designed to be used by women to assess lifestyle and psychosocial factors that could impact their pregnancies and unborn babies. It also provided resources for self-help. DESIGN: Methodological study in 4 phases. SETTING: Alberta Health Services, Calgary area and community. PARTICIPANTS: Thirty-five experts and 375 pregnant women. METHODS: Pregnant women and new mothers participated in focus groups to establish content validity; prenatal class attendees completed the self-assessment and a questionnaire, and women from the community completed a questionnaire on the instrument's utility. RESULTS: Responses from experts and participants in all 4 phases led to changes in the content, wording, and format of the tool. Survey responses indicated that it contained useful information that prompted a number of women to make positive changes during their pregnancies. CONCLUSION: The Pregnancy Wellness Guide is a simple tool that can help pregnant women assess their knowledge and health behaviors and self-refer to helpful resources. It will be widely distributed throughout the health region in the urban and rural Calgary area, and its use is anticipated to result in better health outcomes in pregnancy.