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Community‐based prenatal screening for postpartum depression in a South African township
Author(s) -
Hung Kristin J.,
Tomlinson Mark,
le Roux Ingrid M.,
Dewing Sarah,
Chopra Mickey,
Tsai Alexander C.
Publication year - 2014
Publication title -
international journal of gynecology and obstetrics
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.895
H-Index - 97
eISSN - 1879-3479
pISSN - 0020-7292
DOI - 10.1016/j.ijgo.2014.01.011
Subject(s) - medicine , edinburgh postnatal depression scale , postpartum depression , depression (economics) , postpartum period , obstetrics , pregnancy , community health , psychiatry , public health , nursing , depressive symptoms , macroeconomics , biology , economics , genetics , anxiety
Abstract Objective To assess the feasibility of using community health workers to administer short or ultra‐short screening instruments during routine community‐based prenatal outreach for detecting probable depression at 12 weeks postpartum. Methods During pregnancy and at 12 weeks postpartum, the 10‐item Edinburgh Postnatal Depression Scale (EPDS‐10) was administered to 249 Xhosa‐speaking black African women living in Khayelitsha, South Africa. We compared the operating characteristics of the prenatal EPDS‐10, as well as 4 short and ultra‐short subscales, with the criterion standard of probable postpartum depression. Results Seventy‐nine (31.7%) women were assessed as having probable postpartum depression. A prenatal EPDS‐10 score of 13 or higher had 0.67 sensitivity and 0.67 specificity for detecting probable postpartum depression. Briefer subscales performed similarly. Conclusion Community health workers successfully conducted community‐based screening for depression in a resource‐limited setting using short or ultra‐short screening instruments. However, overall feasibility was limited because prenatal screening failed to accurately predict probable depression during the postpartum period.