Question

The following questions are from the published research article: Segre, L. et al. (2014). Depression and Anxiety Symptoms in Mothers of Newborns Hospitalized on the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit, Nursing Research, 63(5), 320-332.

There were several instruments used in this study. What was the reliability of the Edinburgh Postnatal Depression Scale (EPDS), calculated on the current study population? Please tell me the reliability, and how you interpret this value?

Answer 1

Edinburgh Postnatal Depression Scale (EPDS) originally developed in Britain. It is one of the most widely used screening instruments for assessing symptoms of the Perinatal Common Mental Disorders (PCMDs) of depression and anxiety. Its potential to detect PCMDs in culturally diverse low and lower middle income countries is no clear.

Most of the local language versions-EPDS (LLV-EPDS) from non-English speaking low- and middle-income countries did not meet all criteria for formal validation of a screening instrument. Psychometric properties of LLV-EPDS could be improved by adopting the newly developed process-based criteria for translation, adaptation and validation.