Development and Validation of A Decision-Making Donor Conception Questionnaire in Iranian Infertile Couples

Fatemeh Hadizadeh-Talasaz; Masoumeh Simbar; Habibollah Esmaily; Robab Latifnejad Roudsari

doi:10.22074/ijfs.2019.5700

Development and Validation of A Decision-Making Donor Conception Questionnaire in Iranian Infertile Couples

Int J Fertil Steril. 2019 Oct;13(3):215-224. doi: 10.22074/ijfs.2019.5700. Epub 2019 Jul 14.

Authors

Fatemeh Hadizadeh-Talasaz¹, Masoumeh Simbar², Habibollah Esmaily³, Robab Latifnejad Roudsari^{4

5}

Affiliations

¹ Department of Midwifery, Faculty of Medicine, Social Development and Health Promotion Research Center, Gonabad University of Medical Sciences, Gonabad, Iran.
² Midwifery and Reproductive Health Research Center, Department of Midwifery and Reproductive Health, School of Nursing and Midwifery, Shahid Beheshti University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran.
³ Social Determinent of Health Research Center, Mashhad University of Medical Sciences, Mashhad, Iran.
⁴ Nursing and Midwifery Care Research Center, Mashhad University of Medical Sciences, Mashhad, Iran.
⁵ Department of Midwifery, School of Nursing and Midwifery, Mashhad University of Medical Sciences, Mashhad, Iran. Electronic Address: latifnejadr@mums.ac.ir, rlatifnejad@yahoo.com.

Abstract

Background: Despite the fact that many infertile couples have to decide about whether or not to choose donor conception, there is no predictive scale for evaluating the process of decision-making on donor conception and its determinants in such couples. The present study was conducted to develop a decision-making questionnaire for selecting donor conception and assess its psychometric properties in Iranian infertile couples.

Materials and methods: This cross-sectional validation study was conducted based on the method developed by DeVellis (2012) in four steps at Milad Infertility Clinic, Mashhad, Iran. The dimensions of the concept of decisionmaking were determined in the first step based on the qualitative results obtained from 38 semi-structured in-depth interviews. Items that were appropriate for the questionnaire were developed in the second step using the qualitative data and a review of the literature. In the third step, the research team reviewed and eliminated some of the items. The fourth step evaluated the face, content and construct validity of the questionnaire through exploratory factor analysis on a sample of 220 infertile couples using convenience sampling and investigated its initial and final reliability.

Results: Based on the results of the qualitative study, a pool of 170 items was developed, 101 of which were eliminated after revision due to ambiguity, repetition or their poor face and content validity and initial reliability. The questionnaire was evaluated for its construct validity with 69 items. After the exploratory factor analysis, the decisionmaking donor conception questionnaire (DMDCQ) having 51 items and seven factors, was finalized. All the factors had Cronbach's alpha values of 0.75-0.87 and intra-class correlation coefficients (ICC) greater than 0.7.

Conclusion: This study led to development of a valid and reliable scale for examining infertile couples' decisionmaking about whether or not to use donor conception as well as the determinants of this decision.

Keywords: Decision-Making; Donor Conception; Infertility; Validation.