INTRODUCTION: The purpose of this quality improvement project was to implement and evaluate a postpartum depression screening program using the Edinburgh Postnatal Depression Scale (EPDS) during well-child appointments up to 1 year of age at a private, faith-based primary care clinic. METHOD: The Plan-Do-Study-Act framework was used in this quality improvement project. The EPDS was administered to mothers ages 19 years and older at their infants' well-child appointments at a faith-based clinic in the Midwest. A score of 10 or higher was considered a positive result. The results were reviewed, and protocol changes were implemented every 2 weeks using the Plan-Do-Study-Act framework. RESULTS: A total of 35 mothers completed the EPDS during the 9-week implementation period. Of 37 mothers asked to participate, nearly all agreed (97.3%); there was one refusal (2.7%). Staff compliance rate with administering the EPDS was 78.7%; there were 10 missed opportunities (21.3%). There were five positive EPDS results (14.3%). Mothers who screened positive were between the ages of 20 and 44 years. Infant ages were between 2 weeks and 12 months. DISCUSSION: Screening mothers at well-child appointments can identify women with postpartum depression. Not doing so is a missed opportunity. The results of this project support the identification of postpartum depression by screening using the EPDS during well-child appointments up to 1 year of age.
INTRODUCTION: The purpose of this quality improvement project was to implement and evaluate a postpartum depression screening program using the Edinburgh Postnatal Depression Scale (EPDS) during well-child appointments up to 1 year of age at a private, faith-based primary care clinic. METHOD: The Plan-Do-Study-Act framework was used in this quality improvement project. The EPDS was administered to mothers ages 19 years and older at their infants' well-child appointments at a faith-based clinic in the Midwest. A score of 10 or higher was considered a positive result. The results were reviewed, and protocol changes were implemented every 2 weeks using the Plan-Do-Study-Act framework. RESULTS: A total of 35 mothers completed the EPDS during the 9-week implementation period. Of 37 mothers asked to participate, nearly all agreed (97.3%); there was one refusal (2.7%). Staff compliance rate with administering the EPDS was 78.7%; there were 10 missed opportunities (21.3%). There were five positive EPDS results (14.3%). Mothers who screened positive were between the ages of 20 and 44 years. Infant ages were between 2 weeks and 12 months. DISCUSSION: Screening mothers at well-child appointments can identify women with postpartum depression. Not doing so is a missed opportunity. The results of this project support the identification of postpartum depression by screening using the EPDS during well-child appointments up to 1 year of age.
Authors: Hashem Salarzadeh Jenatabadi; Nadia Samsudin; Che Wan Jasimah Bt Wan Mohamed Radzi Journal: BMC Public Health Date: 2021-01-27 Impact factor: 3.295