GERMAN VERSION AND VALIDATION OF THE EDIN BURGH POSTNATAL DEPRESSION SCALE (EPDS)

Background and objective: There is no valid method in the German liter ature for assessing postpartum depressive disorders. This study was un dertaken to translate into German, validate and test the reliability o f the Edinburgh postnatal depression scale (EPDS). Patients and method s: Randomly selected women after childbirth (n = 110) underwent (on th e fourth postpartum day) a semistructured interview after first having answered the translated EPDS questionnaire. The diagnosis of depressi ve disorder was made according to the the criteria for psychological d isorders in the ICD-10. For validation the results of the EPDS were co mpared with the clinical diagnosis of depression. The calculation of s ensitivity, specificity and positive prognostic value was related to t he respective EPDS results. In addition the EPDS data were analysed as to their reliability. Results: The average age of the tested women wa s 28.6 years: 72 % were married and 45 % were primiparae. For an EPDS total score threshold value of 9.5 the sensitivity was 0.96, the speci ficity 1.0, and a positive prognostic value of 1.0. In the reliability analysis for EPDS the Guttmann split-half reliability was 0.82 and th e alpha-coefficient 0.81. Conclusions: The German version of the EPDS with ten questions is an >>application friendly<< as well as proven to be a valid and reliable method for supporting the diagnosis of postpa rtum depressive disorder. It is suitable for both clinical and researc h use.