Measurement Properties and Quality of Maternal Breastfeeding Instruments: A Scoping Review.

The search was limited to English publications, so breastfeeding instruments developed or validated in other languages may have been missed. Only original versions of instruments were reviewed, so later adaptations, translations, and refinements were not assessed. Interpretability and feasibility were not evaluated. Nearly all instruments had inadequate development quality, often because the sample did not represent the target population or item development methods were poor. Content validity was often unclear because studies did not describe how relevance, comprehensiveness, and comprehensibility were assessed. No instrument was tested for cross-cultural validity, measurement error, or responsiveness. Test-retest reliability was assessed in six instruments, and none reported intraclass correlation or weighted Kappa.

This review was undertaken as part of a PhD scholarship funded by Deakin University. The authors declared no potential conflicts of interest with respect to the research, authorship, or publication of the article.

Do not treat the six recommended instruments as suitable for all groups or for detecting change. The review found no instrument tested across different groups, for score errors, or for responsiveness.