Conclusions
The prevalence of antenatal depressive symptoms reported in this study emphasizes the importance of focusing on the antenatal period to promote the early detection of significant psychosocial risk factors. Clinical recommendations suggest the importance of health professionals asking women in the antenatal period about recent stressful changes and the availability of social support from different sources, rather than simply focusing on general support and support from the partner, which are most commonly investigated. Clinicians need to detect vulnerability to depressive symptoms among women in the antenatal period who receive low support from different sources and have undergone recent cumulative stressful events. The introduction of an antenatal psychosocial assessment in the Italian National Health Service, where specific screening programmes for perinatal depression have yet to beimplemented,may representa significantstepinreducing the severe consequences of undetected and untreated perinatal depression. Future research should, therefore, focus on exploring how to implement this kind of assessment