To be useful as a screening test for depression following childbirth, therefore, a selfreport scale must be fully acceptable to women who may not. Cox jl, holden jm, sagovsky r 1987 detection of postnatal depression. Postnatal depression is a distressing disorder more prolonged than the baby blues which occurs in the first week after delivery, but less severe than postpartum psychosis. Postpartum depression is the most common complication of childbearing and rates of helpseeking for postnatal depression are generally low, making screening important. Developed as the edinburgh postnatal depression scale and validated for use in both pregnancy and the postnatal period to assess for possible depression and anxiety. Oct 08, 2018 postpartum depression is not recognized by the diagnostic and statistical manual of mental disorders dsmiv as being diagnostically distinct from major depression, although the manual does. The edinburgh post natal depression scale epds from the british journal of psychiatry.
Reliability and validity of the edinburgh postnatal. The edinburgh postnatal depression scale epds is widely used in many countries to screen women for depression in the perinatal period. The edinburgh postnatal depression scale epds j l cox. It has been hypothesized that a subscale items 3, 4, 5 may detect anxiety. Postnatal depression hits one in seven mothers nhs. The edinburgh postnatal depression scale epds screens for postpartum depression with a sensitivity of 59% to 100% and a specificity of 44% to 97%, with variation due to geographic location of studies, cutoff scores chosen, and reference standards used for diagnosis sor. Validation of the edinburgh postnatal depression scale against.
The most widely used screening measure for pnd is the edinburgh postnatal depression scale epds developed by j. In the uk the epds remains the dominant tool for screening and detection of postnatal depression, although there continues to be. Mar 24, 2016 none or minimal depression 06, mild depression 7, moderate depression 1419, severe depression 1930. The aim of this study is to assess whether this epds anxiety subscale is present in a communitybased dataset, and if so, to assess its validity and. Oct 15, 2010 postpartum major depression is a disorder that is often unrecognized and must be distinguished from baby blues. To correctly take this postpartum depression test, please select the answer which comes closest to how you have felt during the past 7 days only not just how you feel today. Development of the 10item edinburgh postnatal depression scale. Is the edinburgh postnatal depression scale an effective. As described in the introduction, these are the widely accepted cut. The edinburgh postnatal depression scale epds 1 has been established as a useful screening instrument for detection of women at risk for depression in the peri natal period 2, 3. The edinburgh postnatal depression scale epds is most frequently used in the research setting and clinical practice for several reasons.
This 10 item self report measure is designed to screen women for symptoms of emotional distress during pregnancy and the postnatal period. A weakness is that the factor structure of the scale is inconsistent. The most common way this is done in the uk and us is by using the edinburgh postnatal depression scale epds. The simplified edinburgh postnatal depression scale epds for. The edinburgh postnatal depression scale epds has been developed to assist primary care health professionals to detect mothers suffering from postnatal depression. Items of the scale correspond to various clinical depression symptoms, such as guilt feeling, sleep disturbance, low energy, anhedonia, and suicidal ideation. Once during your pregnancy, and once after pregnancy.
Edinburgh postnatal depression scale 783 appear to lack face validity. Pdf does the edinburgh postnatal depression scale measure. The edinburgh postnatal depression scale epds is a 10item questionnaire that was developed to identify women who have postpartum depression. Sociodemographic, clinical and obstetric data were collected at patients. Its subsequent development in clinical and research settings has been fully described cox and holden, 1994. Edinburgh postnatal depression scale epds ucsf fresno. This 10question selfrating scale has been demonstrated to be an efficient and effective way of identifying patients at risk for perinatal depression. This is not intended to provide a diagnosis only trained health professionals should do this.
However, across studies the psychometric properties and cutoff scores of the epds have varied considerably. The edinburgh postnatal depression scale epds and the highs scale were used to assess 370 mothers and their partners. The good practice guidelines for the management of perinatal mental health care is derived from the postnatal depression redesign project, which ran from 2000 until 2002. As you are having a baby, we would like to know how you are feeling. The perinatal clinical practice guidelines recommend that psychosocial assessment and the edinburgh postnatal depression scale epds be used by primary care and other health professionals to screen all women for symptoms of depression andor anxiety during the perinatal period. It assesses emotional experiences over the past seven days using ten likert scale items see additional file 1. Holden, r sagovsky 1987 this 10 item self report measure is designed to screen women for symptoms of emotional distress during pregnancy and the postnatal period. Edinburgh postnatal depression scale epds calculator. The edinburgh postnatal depression scale detects but does not distinguish anxiety disorders from depression in mothers of infants.
The epds has been validated for use in both pregnancy and the. It is interesting to note that many women had scores between 7 and, what we would label as nondepressed on the epds but a score that would be called mild depression using more conventional scales of depression severity. Aug 21, 2014 the edinburgh postnatal depression scale epds. Standardized questionnaires designed for the identification of depression are useful for monitoring individual as well as population mental health. Oct 21, 2016 edinburgh postnatal depression scale epds is considered well accepted screening tool for postpartum depression ppd. The dependent variable utilized in this study was the edinburgh postnatal depression scale epds as it is the most common screening instrument used for the detection of antenatal and post natal. To describe the use of the edinburgh postnatal depression scale epds in screening for anxiety and depression in the community and to provide referral pathways. The epds should be performed at the booking visit, and at around 32 weeks gestation or at any stage there is a midwife or client concern. Scale epds that have been translated into languages other than english and validated for use in screening to assist health workers detect perinatal depression, in both pregnancy and during the postpartum period. Please circle the number next to the answer which comes closest to how you. Jun 12, 2006 the edinburgh postnatal depression scale epds is a 10 item selfrating post natal depression scale which has seen widespread use in epidemiological and clinical studies. The edinburgh postnatal depression scale epds is a 10question screening tool that has been validated for the assessment of mood in the early postpartum period 43 but must be supported by clinical assessment of mood for the diagnosis of pnd to be made. Edinburgh postnatal depression scale epds the epds was developed for screening postpartum women in outpatient, home visiting settings, or at the 6 8 week postpartum examination.
Edinburgh postnatal depression scale epds postpartum depression is the most common complication of childbearing. The edinburgh postnatal depression scale epds is a short 10item self report questionnaire designed to identify mothers at risk for prenatal and and postnatal depression. Edinburgh postnatal depression scale epds 23 translations of the epds have been recently checked, revised or backtranslated and then reformatted by western sydney translation service onto the nsw health emr form to enable clinicians better access to validated versions via a url link. Selftest for depression symptoms in pregnancy and postpartum edinburgh postnatal depression scale epds jl cox, jm holden, r sagovsky, department of psychiatry, university of edinburgh 1987 module 6 name. The factor structure of the epds seems to differ across. Testretest reliability of the english version of the. The spanish version was developed at the university of iowa based on earlier. Edinburgh postnatal depression scale epds1 the questionnaire below is called the edinburgh postnatal depression scale edps the edps was developed to identify women who may have postpartum depression. Studies have shown that postpartum depression affects at least 10% 20% of women and that many depressed mothers remain untreated. Increasingly there is evidence that for many women, and men, anxiety disorders can occur postnatally in the absence of depression. Please mark x in the box next to the answer which comes closest to how you have felt in the past 7 days not just how you feel today.
Using the edinburgh postnatal depression scale meta4rn. A simple blood test could soon be used to predict if a woman will suffer from postnatal depression says the daily telegraph the paper reports on new research, saying that testing levels of a hormone produced by the placenta could be used to predict threequarters of depression cases in new mothers. Nhs grampian good practice guidelines for the management of. Download or order screening and print materials from the saskatchewan prevention institute at. The epds is not a diagnostic tool and must always be used in conjunction with clinical assessment.
During this period extensive work and consultation was undertaken involving representation from health professionals engaged in antenatal and postnatal care and service users. The edinburgh postnatal depression scale epds was developed to assist primary care health professionals in detecting mothers suffering from postpartum depression ppd. As you have recently had a baby, we would ike to know how you are fee ing. The mother is asked to check the response that comes closest to how she has been feeling in the previous 7 days. Edinburgh postnatal pregnancy, birth and early parenthood for. The identification of severity ranges for the edinburgh. Diagnostic accuracy of the edinburgh postnatal depression. Please mark the answer which comes closest to how you have felt in the past 7 days, not. In addition, it has been identified as the most frequently validated instrument to screen for perinatal depression 4, and in 2014 the epds had been. As you have recently had a baby, we would like to know how you are feeling. Establishing a coherent and replicable measurement model of the. We use this scale to see how woman are coping with the life changes of pregnancy and childbirth. These limitations may also be relevant to a consideration of the zung depression scale zung, 1965 for use in the puerperium.
Sep 11, 2014 testretest reliability of the english version of the edinburgh postnatal depression scale epds has not been established. Therefore, we validated the danish epds against a depression. The edinburgh postnatal depression scale epds is commonly used as a screening tool but a single, direct question on depression may offer. Validation of the edinburgh postnatal depression scale. For these reasons, women of childbearing age can be at high risk for depressive disorder 1. The edinburgh postnatal depression scale epds the edinburgh postnatal depression scale epds is a screening questionnaire that can indicate whether a new mother has symptoms that are commonly seen in women with depression during pregnancy and in the year following the birth of a child. Other tools, such as the hospital anxiety and depression scale hads, are used to identify which women need care, as well as to help doctors decide on the best form of treatment. The edinburgh postnatal depression scale epds is a set of 10 screening questions that can indicate whether a parent has symptoms that are common in women with depression and anxiety during pregnancy and in the year following the birth of a child. The edinburgh postnatal depression scale epds manual 2nd revised edition pdf our services was introduced with a wish to function as a complete on the web electronic digital collection that offers entry to multitude of pdf file document collection.
A screening questionnaire to check for depression during the postnatal period. The edinburgh postnatal depression scale epds is a questionnaire originally developed to assist in identifying possible symptoms of depression in the postnatal period. This study aimed to address this gap in psychometrics by examining testretest reliability in a sample of 118 australian mothers with babies aged under 12 months, with a mean of 2. Edinburgh postnatal depression scale epds since you are either pregnant or have recently had a baby, we want to know how you feel. Validating the edinburgh postnatal depression scale as a. Cox 1990 also known as the edinburgh postnatal depression scale epds j l cox, j m. The information in brackets gives the format and file size if known.
It also has adequate sensitivity and specificity to identify depressive symptoms in the antenatal period. Evaluation of the edinburgh post natal depression scale using. A core component of australias national perinatal depression initiative npdi is universal screening of all pregnant women and new mums using the edinburgh postnatal depression scale. The edinburgh post natal depression scale instructions. Introduction derived from the earlier work of zigmond and snaith 1983 the edinburgh postnatal depression scale epds is a 10item selfreport scale designed for use postnatally cox et al. You will be given the epds as a normal part of your pregnancy and post pregnancy care. About the edinburgh postnatal depression scale the epds was developed in the 1980s by john cox, a consultant psychiatrist in the united kingdom, and his colleagues jeni holden and ruth sagovsky.
Items marked with an asterisk are reverse scored i. It can help to identify symptoms of anxiety and depression. Using the epds to measure postpartum depression severity. It is a selfreport questionnaire now used in many countries to screen for postnatal depression. The objective of the study was to validate the epds as a screening tool for postpartum depression in kathmandu, nepal. Edinburgh perinatalpostnatal depression scale epds. Edinburgh postnatal depression scale epds pdf file 408 kb links to english resource summary. The edinburgh postnatal depression scale epds aims at detecting postpartum depression. Validation of the edinburgh postnatal depression scale epds.
Postnatal depression is poorly identified in the community. Results for reliability of edinburgh postnatal depression scale 1 20 of 87 sorted by relevance date click export csv or ris to download the entire page or use the checkboxes to select a subset of records to download. Edinburgh perinatalpostnatal depression scale epds for use between 28 32 weeks in all pregnancies and 6 8 weeks postpartum name. Perinatal mental disorder is characterized by depression, anxiety, or. The edinburgh postnatal depression scale is the most widely used measure for screening for depression in perinatal populations. Edinburgh postnatal depression scale 1 epds postpartum depression is the most common complication of childbearing. Acog 2015 recommends that all women undergo screening for perinatal depression at least once during the perinatal period, using a validated screening tool. The scale must be copied in full and all copies must acknowledge the following source. Concern has been raised over the validity of the epds as a single summed scale, with suggestions that it measures two separate aspects, one of depressive feelings, the other of anxiety. The commonwealth department of health and ageing doha suggests using it twice once antenatally, and again a month or so postpartum reference here. In addition, it has been identified as the most frequently validated instrument to screen for perinatal depression, and in 2014 the epds had been validated against a diagnosis of depression in at. The scale, which has been translated into 50 different languages, consists of 10 selfreported questions that are health literacy appropriate and take less than 5. You will be asked to complete the epds at least twice.
The edinburgh postnatal depression scale epds is a set of questions for you to answer. Edinburgh postnatal depression scale epds free social. The 10item edinburgh postnatal depression scale epds is the most commonly used screening tool in pregnancy and postpartum. Edinburgh postnatal depression scale1 epds adapted for. Subscales measuring symptoms of nonspecific depression, anhedonia, and anxiety in the edinburgh postnatal depression scale. Postpartum major depression american family physician. Apr 04, 2016 the edinburgh postnatal depression scale epds is one of the most widely used screening instruments for assessing symptoms of perinatal depression and anxiety 3, 4. The edinburgh postnatal depression scale may be photocopied by individual researchers or clinicians for their own use without seeking permission from the publishers. The edinburgh postnatal depression scale request pdf. Using the edinburgh postnatal depression scale to screen. Edinburgh postnatal depression scale epds cox jl, holden jm sagovsky r 1987 detection of postnatal depression.
Scoring the edinburgh postnatal depression scale epds response categories are scored o, 1, 2, and 3 according to increased severity of the symptoms. Edinburgh postnatal depression scale1 epds adapted for fathers postpartum depression is the most common complication of childbearing. The edinburgh postnatal depression scale epds j l cox, j m. Detecting women at risk for postnatal depression using the. It has been utilized among numerous populations including u. The scale can be used at six to eight weeks after birth or during pregnancy. The edinburgh postnatal depression scale epds has been established as a useful screening instrument for detection of women at risk for depression in the perinatal period 2, 3. In 1987 the edinburgh postnatal depression scale epds cox et al, 1987 was introduced as a screening tool for detecting women who may be vulnerable to postnatal depression. Antenatal depressive symptoms, a history of major depressive disorder, or. The edinburgh postnatal depression scale epds is a set of 10 screening questions that can indicate whether you have symptoms that are common in.