An exploratory and confirmatory factor analysis study of the EPDS in postnatal Italian-speaking women

ABSTRACT

Background

Depression and anxiety are the most prevalent emotional difficulties in the perinatal period and there is agreement that early intervention is an important strategy to prevent long-lasting effects on mother and child. Literature has recently shown that the Edinburgh Postnatal Depression Scale (EPDS) is able to measure not only depression but also anxiety.

Objective

To investigate the factorial structure of the EPDS in Italian-speaking new mothers.

Method

416 women attending vaccination services between 2 and 4 months postpartum filled in the EPDS. Exploratory (EFA) and Confirmatory (CFA) analyses were carried out.

Results

The EFA on the first part of the sample (n = 208) showed a two-factor structure. The CFAs on the second sample of mothers (n = 208) provided support for the ‘EPDS-4A’, with items 3,4,5,6 belonging to the Anxiety factor and items 1,2,7,8,9,10 to the Depression factor. The fit for the model was good: χ²/df = 1.41, p <.001; GFI =.99; CFI =.99; TLI =.88; RMSEA =.04.

Conclusion

A two-factor structure of the EPDS was confirmed suggesting that the EPDS can be used to screen for both depression and anxiety for Italian mothers in the postnatal period.

KEYWORDS:

• Anxiety
• depression
• factorial structure
• confirmatory
• exploratory
• EPDS

Acknowledgments

We would like to thank the ASL Brescia and the following people for their assistance with this project: S. Bonazzoli, R. Conti, S. Corsetti, A. Donati, A. Festa, E. Mangerini, F. Donato.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Additional information

Funding

This research did not receive any specific grant from funding agencies in the public, commercial, or not-for-profit sectors.