Screening an Australian community sample for risk of postnatal depression

This exploratory study on the transition to motherhood focused on screening a community sample of Australian women to identify those mothers at risk o f having postnatal depression. Seventy-one first-time mothers completed the Edinburgh Postnatal Depression Scale approximately 6 weeks after childbirt h. The results indicated that 35.2% of the first-time mothers in the sample required further investigation. That is, approximately 35% of the communit y sample reported experiencing significant difficulties in their transition to motherhood. A total of 25.4% of these women were identified as being at risk of experiencing depression, and between 9.9% and 15.7% were identifie d as being at risk of experiencing severe depressive symptomology. The stud y therefore identified a significant proportion of first-time mothers, with in a community sample, experiencing difficulties in the early postpartum pe riod of a severity which warranted further clinical assessment for postnata l depression. These findings have significant implications for the preventi on and management of postnatal depression in the community. The study under scores the need for more community-based research into the challenges and d ifficulties that women endure at this critical developmental stage.