Psychometric Properties of the Prenatal Opioid Use Perceived Stigma Scale and Its Use in Prenatal Care.

The stigma evaluation was a secondary aim of a larger infant outcome study, so few mother-specific measures were included. The sample was small (127) and mostly non-Hispanic White, so the scale may not perform the same way in more diverse patients. The study showed an association between stigma and inadequate prenatal care, not that stigma caused inadequate care or that using the scale will improve outcomes. Adequate prenatal care was defined as three or more visits starting before the third trimester, which may not capture quality of care. Mothers of infants who did not meet study inclusion criteria may have had higher stigma, so reported stigma may be understated. One model fit statistic was slightly above the authors' usual acceptable threshold, although they note small samples can bias it upward.

The authors reported no conflict of interest or relevant financial relationships.

Do not conclude that using the POPS scale will improve prenatal care. The study only found an association between perceived stigma and inadequate prenatal care; it did not test an intervention based on the scale.