The researchers, from the Colorado Adolescent Maternity Program (CAMP), found that a three-item anxiety sub-scale of the Edinburgh Postpartum Depression Scale turned out to be a better screening tool than the two other abbreviated versions which are almost the same as the commonly used Patient Health Questionnaire. The subscale identified 16 percent more mothers as depressed than the original, longer questionnaire.
For this sub-scale, new mothers were asked to answer “Yes, most of the time,” “Yes, some of the time,” “Not very often” or “No, never” to the following statements:
- I have blamed myself unnecessarily when things went wrong.
- I have felt scared or panicky for not very good reason.
- I have been anxious or worried for not very good reason.
“We chose these three questions, because other studies have suggested that postpartum depression has a large anxiety component, and those three questions are related specifically to anxiety,” said study co-author Jeanelle Sheeder, a senior instructor in pediatrics at the University of Colorado in Denver. “That subscale would probably be reasonable in other populations as well, because a lot of postpartum depression in general is related to that feeling of not knowing what to do and being scared or panicky.”
The study authors concluded that the brevity and reliability of the EPDS-3 make it an attractive screening tool for primary healthcare providers who simply want to detect potential depression and not to assess its severity. These patients can then be referred on to a psychiatric professional for full diagnosis and treatment.
