Postpartum maternal bonding scale: Development and validation in a low- and middle- income country setting

Introduction The World Health Organization’s Nurturing Care Framework recommends promoting secure postpartum maternal-infant bonding practices through responsive caregiving for healthy child development. Various instruments exist to assess maternal-infant bonding, but they differ in theoretical foundations and constructs, limiting their broad application and comparability. Notably, there is a lack of bonding instruments developed for low- and middle-income countries (LMICs), where children under five are most at risk of not reaching their developmental potential. This paper describes the development and psychometric validation of a conceptually grounded postpartum maternal bonding scale in an LMIC context and highlights its potential applications in similar settings. Methods Based on a literature review of bonding concepts and measurement processes, we developed a postpartum maternal bonding scale using a cultural adaptation model for psychometric instruments for children and adolescents. This involved identifying and reviewing existing bonding-related tools, generating items, iterative rounds of expert reviews, and pretesting with postpartum women. We then conducted a final survey with a large sample of women at 42 days postpartum to establish the scale’s psychometric properties. The study was conducted in the Thatta and Sujawal districts of Sindh, Pakistan. Results An initial pool of 44 items was developed following a literature review and interviews with postpartum women. After multiple rounds of expert review and cognitive pretesting, a 30-item tool was selected for field testing. Using data from 310 postpartum women, we examined the tool’s structure through exploratory (EFA) and confirmatory factor analysis (CFA), leading to a refined 12-item tool. The EFA revealed three factors related to Emotional, Cognitive, and Behavioural bonding. Taking the four highest loading items from each domain, we performed CFA using three models: a first-order model with the three domains, a second-order model, and a bifactor model, which included an overall bonding construct. The bifactor model showed the best fit (comparative fit index =  0.951; root mean square error of approximation =  0.066; standardized root mean square residual =  0.045). This indicates that both an overall bonding construct and specific domains can be measured separately. Pairwise domain correlations were all below 0.67, and internal reliability statistics ranged from 0.63-0.72 (Cronbach’s Alpha) and 0.64-0.77 (global omega). Regression analysis showed associations between bonding scores and factors such as cesarean delivery (reduced behavioural bonding score for mothers having caesarean: -0.94, 95% Confidence Interval -1.86 to -0.01, p-value 0.047), maternal disability (reduced overall bonding score for mothers with severe disability -1.54, 95% CI -3.12 to 0.03, p-value 0.054), and probable postpartum depression (reduced overall bonding score in mothers with probable PPD -1.57, 95% CI -2.70 to -0.45, p-value 0.006). Conclusion The 12-item postpartum maternal bonding scale (PMBS) is a conceptually grounded instrument. It is a brief, easy-to-administer tool with potential cross-cultural use in low- and middle-income settings after cultural adaptation.