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The Spanish Journal of Psychology The Spanish Journal of Psychology

Article contents

Screening for Depression and Anxiety Disorders from Pregnancy to Postpartum with the EPDS and STAI

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  31 March 2014

Iva Tendais ,
Raquel Costa ,
Ana Conde  and
Bárbara Figueiredo
Iva Tendais*
Affiliation:
Universidade do Minho (Portugal)
Raquel Costa
Affiliation:
Universidade do Minho (Portugal)
Ana Conde
Affiliation:
Universidade do Minho (Portugal)
Bárbara Figueiredo
Affiliation:
Universidade do Minho (Portugal)
*
*Correspondence concerning this article should be addressed to Iva Tendais. Universidade do Minho. Campus de Gualtar. 4710-057. Braga (Portugal). Phone: +351-253604241. Fax: +351-253678987. E-mail: ivatendais@gmail.com
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Abstract

The Edinburgh Postnatal Depression Scale (EPDS) and the State Anxiety Inventory (STAI-S) are widely used self-report measures that still need to be further validated for the perinatal period. The aim of this study was to examine the screening performance of the EPDS and the STAI-S in detecting depressive and anxiety disorders at pregnancy and postpartum. Women screening positive on EPDS (EPDS ≥ 9) or STAI-S (STAI-S ≥ 45) during pregnancy (n = 90), as well as matched controls (n = 58) were selected from a larger study. At 3 months postpartum, 99 of these women were reassessed. At a second stage, women were administered a clinical interview to establish a DSM-IV-TR diagnosis. Receiver operator characteristics (ROC) analysis yielded areas under the curve higher than .80 and .70 for EPDS and STAI-S, respectively. EPDS and STAI-S optimal cut-offs were found to be lower at postpartum (EDPS = 7; STAI-S = 34) than during pregnancy (EPDS = 9; STAI-S = 40). EPDS and STAI-S are reasonably valid screening tools during pregnancy and the postpartum.

Keywords

depressionpostnatal depressionanxietyscreening
Type
Research Article
Information
The Spanish Journal of Psychology , Volume 17 , 2014 , E7
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2014 

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