Midwifery. 2025 Oct 14:104634. doi: 10.1016/j.midw.2025.104634. Online ahead of print.
ABSTRACT
PROBLEM: Despite progress in maternal and newborn health, China still lacks a validated and multidimensional tool to monitor care quality and guide improvements.
BACKGROUND: The Quality Maternal and Newborn Care Framework index (QMNCFi) is a novel but comprehensive and globally developed tool for assessing maternity care quality from the service user’s perspective, offering huge potential for assessing care quality in China.
AIM: This study aimed to validate the Chinese version of the QMNCFi and report initial findings from economically diverse settings.
METHODS: An online survey was conducted in five hospitals in five provinces in China among women between 6 weeks to 1 year postpartum. Construct validity was assessed using confirmatory factor analysis. Reliability was evaluated through internal consistency and test-retest reliability. Inferential statistics were used to analyze score differences across sub-groups.
FINDINGS: 547 mothers completed the survey. Confirmatory factor analysis indicated that the construct of the Chinese version aligned with the original version. The Cronbach’s α for the survey’s 13 sections ranged from 0.629 to 0.975, and the Intraclass Correlation Coefficient of test-retest ranged from 0.620 to 0.926. There is a modest correlation between regional economic level and QMNCFi scores at all time periods (p < 0.05). Pregnancy sub-index scores were slightly higher among women in rural areas compared to urban areas (p < 0.05).
CONCLUSION: The Chinese version of the QMNCFi is feasible to obtain service user perceptions of the quality of care at scale in China.
PMID:41176456 | DOI:10.1016/j.midw.2025.104634
