Validation of the Edinburgh Postnatal Depression Scale and prevalence of postnatal depression at two months postpartum in a sample of Greek mothers

Abstract

The EPDS has been validated as a screening instrument for postnatal depression in numerous communities over the last 20 years. Absence of a validation study for the Greek population has limited significantly its use in Greece. A community sample of 109 women was recruited on the second day postpartum in the two largest maternity hospitals in Athens. Ninety‐five women consented to participate and to complete the EPDS, the Beck Depression Inventory (BDI), the 28‐item General Health Questionnaire (GHQ), and the 26‐item WHO‐Quality of Life (WHO‐QOL). Of them, 81 consented to be reassessed 2 months later. At that time, in addition to the baseline questionnaires, the Structured Clinical Interview for DSM‐III‐R (SCID), non‐patient version, was conducted in order to establish psychiatric diagnosis of major and minor depression. The clinical diagnosis was used to test the criterion validity of the EPDS, and the GHQ, BDI and WHO‐QOL scores were used to assess the concurrent validity of the EPDS. Cronbach's alpha coefficient was used to measure the internal consistency of the scales. A cut‐off point of 11/12 on the EPDS showed optimum Receiver Operating Characteristics. The SCID showed that 12.4% of the subjects met criteria for depression at two months postpartum.

Keywords:

• postnatal depression
• cross‐cultural studies