Research Article: Validating the Edinburgh Postnatal Depression Scale Against the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, th Edition for Use in Uganda
Abstract:
Postpartum depression (PPD) is a type of mood disorder that can affect women following child birth. It is characterized by a persistent and often severe form of depression. PPD can have significant emotional, physical, and social impacts on the affected individuals. The short- and long-term impact of postpartum depression on the mother, her marital relationship, the children and community make it an important condition to screen, diagnose, treat and prevent. Routine use of screening scales for the purpose of identifying PPD symptoms is an effective, simple and economical way to identify women at risk for the disorder. Validating these screening scales provides standard clinical scales to compare symptoms and treatment efficacy across different populations of diverse cultural, emotional and economic backgrounds. There are several screening instruments for PPD and the most commonly used scale is the Edinburgh Postnatal Depression Scale (EPDS)., The EPDS was originally developed in Edinburgh by Scottish Health Centers in . It can be self-administered in literate communities and researcher administered for mothers who cannot read and write. The health worker administering this scale may not have specialized training in psychiatric disorders but should be familiar with mental health problems. The EPDS is used to assess emotional experiences over the previous days using Likert-scale items by assessing for sadness and fearfulness, loss of interest, anxiety and worry, sleep deficit, self-blame, sense of being overwhelmed, and suicidal ideation in postpartum women. It is simple, quick to score and has shown high acceptability levels by patients as well as being readily available without purchase expenses. Due to the limited number of psychiatrists in Uganda, it is anticipated that the EPDS will be utilized in the clinical practice by nurses and midwives to identify mothers suffering from PPD on postnatal clinics.
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