SCREENING FOR PPD
The Edinburgh Postnatal Depression Scale (EPDS)
Detection of PPD has become considerably more feasible
with the availability of structured, well-validated,
easily administered screening measures. The Edinburgh
Postnatal Depression Scale (EPDS) is a widely used 10-
item questionnaire for postpartum depression that was
developed in 1987, and has been extensively validated for
antepartum and postpartum depression, with multicultural
applicability. Cronbach’s alpha, the widely accepted
standard of internal consistency, has been found to be
around 0.86,10 sufficiently higher than the minimumidentifi ed standard of 0.70. The EPDS is commonly the
measure of choice when assessing for depression related
to pregnancy and childbirth.