BackgroundThe Edinburgh Postnatal Depression Scale (EPDS) is widely recommended for perinatal anxiety and depression screening. However, many Aboriginal women find EPDS language complex and confusing, and providers find using it with Aboriginal women challenging. The two part Kimberley Mum’s Mood Scale (KMMS) was developed to improve screening: Part 1 is a Kimberley version of EPDS; Part 2 is a psychosocial tool that enables contextualisation of Part 1 scores. We aimed to determine if KMMS is a valid and acceptable method of identifying Kimberley Aboriginal perinatal women at risk of anxiety or depressive disorders compared to a semi-structured clinical interview.MethodsAcross 15 sites in the Kimberley, Western Australia, 97 Aboriginal women aged 16 years and older who intended to continue with their pregnancy or had a baby within the previous 12 months were administered the KMMS by trained healthcare providers who provided an overall assessment of no, low, moderate or high risk; 91 participants were then independently assessed by a blinded clinical expert using Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, 4th Edition criteria. A qualitative approach was used to determine KMMS’ acceptability.ResultsPart 1 had high internal consistency (Cronbach’s alpha, 0.89), and overall KMMS risk equivalence for screening for anxiety or depressive disorders was moderate (sensitivity, 83%; specificity, 87%; positive predictive value, 68%). Participants found the process easy and useful, and healthcare providers found KMMS more useful than EPDS. Part 2 allowed healthcare providers to ask questions that gave participants an opportunity to express themselves, resulting in a deeper understanding between them.ConclusionKMMS is an effective tool for identifying Kimberley Aboriginal perinatal women at risk of anxiety and depressive disorders. Adoption of KMMS with culturally safe training and support is likely to improve screening processes, and with further validation may have broader applicability across remote Australia.

BackgroundImproving the rates of, and instruments used in, screening for perinatal depression and anxiety among Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander women are important public health priorities. The Kimberley Mum’s Mood Scale (KMMS) was developed and later validated as an effective and acceptable perinatal depression and anxiety screening tool for the Kimberley region under research conditions. Other regions have expressed interest in using the KMMS with perinatal Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander women. It is, however, important to re-evaluate the KMMS in a larger Kimberley sample via a real world implementation study, and to test for applicability in other remote and regional environments before recommendations for wider use can be made. This paper outlines the protocol for evaluating the process of implementation and establishing the ‘real world’ validity and acceptability of the KMMS in the Kimberley, Pilbara and Far North Queensland in northern Australia.MethodsThe study will use a range of quantitative and qualitative methods across all sites. KMMS validation/revalidation internal consistency of Part 1 will be determined using Cronbach’s alpha. Equivalence for identifying risk of depression and anxiety compared to a standard reference assessment will be determined from receiver operating characteristic curves. Sensitivity and specificity will be determined based on these cut-points. Qualitative methods of phenomenology will be used to explore concepts of KMMS user acceptability (women and health professionals). Additional process evaluation methods will collate, assess and report on KMMS quality review data, consultations with health service administrators and management, field notes, and other documentation from the research team. This information will be reported on using the Dynamic Sustainability Framework.DiscussionThis project is contributing to the important public health priority of screening Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander women for perinatal depression and anxiety with tools that are meaningful and responsive to cultural and clinical needs. Identifying and addressing barriers to implementation contributes to our understanding of the complexity of improving routine clinical practie.Trial registrationThe study was registered retrospectively on 15/05/2019 with the Australian and New Zealand Clinical Trial registry (ACTRN12619000580178).

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