[Development of a measuring tool for performance anxiety in obstetrics]

Abstract

Objective: Developing a measuring tool for physician's performance anxiety during obstetrical procedures, as a self-administered questionnaire.

Methods: We used the Delphi method. First, we did a literature review to identify the items to submit for the first round. A panel of experts was asked to rate the relevance of items from one to six. For the first round of Delphi, items were retained if more than 70% of respondents assigned a five or six rating. Items were excluded if more than 70% of respondents assigned a one or two rating. All the other items, plus those suggested by the panel, were submitted to a second round of Delphi. The same item selection conditions were applied to the second round.

Results: The overall response rate to the Delphi was 79% (19 respondents). At the end of the first round, 14 items were consensually relevant, no item was consensually irrelevant. For the second round, the 18 items that did not find consensus and seven new items suggested by the experts in the first round were submitted. At the end of the second round, nine items were retained by consensus as relevant.

Conclusion: This study defined by consensus 23 items for a self-questionnaire to measure specific performance anxiety in obstetrics divided into five dimensions: perceived stress, assessment of the risk of complications, medico-legal risk, impact of the healthcare team and peers, self-confidence and decision-making confidence. We intend to validate this tool in real population.

Keywords: Anxiété de performance; Delphi technique; Méthode Delphi; Obstetrics; Obstétrique; Performance anxiety.