Validation of the Edinburgh Postnatal Depression Scale (EPDS) in Chilean Postpartum Women

Abstract

A validity study of the Edinburgh Postnatal Depression Scale (EPDS) against the Research Diagnostic Criteria (RDC) was carried out on a sample of women attending a health care center in Santiago. One hundred and eight middle-class mothers filled in the EPDS and were later interviewed by the main author using the Psychiatric Assessment Schedule (PAS). The internal consistency of the EPDS was reasonably good (Cronbach's alpha 0.77). Validity coefficients for the scale were calculated to determine the best case/non-case threshold which was found to be 9/10. Sensitivity, specificity and positive predictive value for this threshold were 100%, 80% and 37% correspondingly. The same best cut-off point (9/10) was found by other Chilean investigators in a sample of working-class women. The EPDS was shown to be a useful screening instrument for postnatal depression in these settings.

Actualización en depresión postparto: el desafío permanente de optimizar su detección y abordaje

“…En Chile, el Ministerio de Salud ha recomendado el uso de la Escala de Depresión Postparto de Edimburgo (EDPE) como instrumento de tamizaje de la depresión en el embarazo y postparto 15 , la cual se encuentra validada en mujeres chilenas desde 1995 21 . En el embarazo se indicó su aplicación en el primer o segundo control gestacional, y un puntaje de corte de 13 determina sospecha de depresión.…”

Alteración del desarrollo psicomotor en hijos de mujeres con depresión posparto de la ciudad de Valdivia-Chile

“…Algunos estudios señalan que la falta de apego o patrones de interacción negativos madre-hijo, durante la etapa temprana de formación de vínculos, impactan el desarrollo futuro del niño, aun cuando la depresión de la madre haya finalizado [11][12][13] .…”

Assessment of Postpartum Depression in a Group of Chilean Parents

“…Regarding the psychometric properties of the instrument, there was an adequate internal consistency in both the Spanish version with α = .90 35 and in the Chilean version with α = .92. 36 The Chilean version presented an adequate fit to the structure with a single factor, and a score of 13/14 was proposed as a cut-off point to distinguish between a sample with known symptomatology and the sample without known symptoms. 36 In the current sample, α = .90 was calculated for the total sample, with α = .86 for fathers and α = .91 for mothers, which is considered to be adequate.…”