Hello Rafael,

Of course, the EPDS has been created in order to be used at some precise moments. Yet, studies provided various information about its validity and its relevance at different times. For example, this instrument was used at 3 times in Razurel's study

(Razurel et al., 2013, 2014a, 2014b):

–between 36-39 weeks of gestation (t1);

–2 days after delivery (t2);

–6 weeks postpartum (t3).

Our research was longitudinal and we were interested in measuring depression at each stage of the study; and our rationale for measuring it after 36 weeks of gestation was to exclude premature births of our cohort.

As you've noticed, the EPDS has already been often used either at t2 or t3.

Regarding your research, I'd say that the better time depends on what is your aim, and when what you want to measure is about to occur. If you're focusing on “baby blues”, you surely need to perform measurement a couple of days after delivery. A last but not least factor to take into account is of course attrition.

I hope this answer may help you.

Regards

Razurel, C., Kaiser, B., Dupuis, M., Antonietti, J.-P., Sellenet, C., & Epiney, M. (2014). Validation of the post-delivery perceived stress inventory. Psychology, Health & Medicine. 19(1), 70-82. http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/13548506.2013.774431

Razurel, C., Kaiser, B., Dupuis, M., Antonietti, J.-P., Sellenet, C., & Epiney, M. (2013). Validation of the PostNatal Perceived Stress Inventory (PNPSI) in a population of French-speaking women. Journal of Obstetric, Gynecologic, & Neonatal Nursing. 42(6), 685-696. http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/1552-6909.12251

Razurel, C., Kaiser, B., Dupuis, M., Antonietti, J.-P., Citherlet, C., Epiney, M., & Sellenet, C. (2014). Validation of the antenatal perceived stress inventory. Journal of Health Psychology, 19(4), 471-481. http://dx.doi.org/10.1177/1359105312473785

Thanks a lot for your answer, it has really helped me.

Suggest you check whether EPDS actually screens out anxiety as distinct from depression. See abstract below about a new test from Australia that does just that in a way EPDS doesn't.

See article: The Perinatal Anxiety Screening Scale: development and preliminary validation. Authors: Somerville S1, Dedman K, Hagan R, Oxnam E, Wettinger M, Byrne S, Coo S, Doherty D, Page AC.

Author information

1Department of Psychological Medicine, King Edward Memorial Hospital, 374 Bagot Road, Subiaco, WA, 6008, Australia, [email protected].

Abstract

The purpose of this study is to develop a scale (Perinatal Anxiety Screening Scale, PASS) to screen for a broad range of problematic anxiety symptoms which is sensitive to how anxiety presents in perinatal women and is suitable to use in a variety of settings including antenatal clinics, inpatient and outpatient hospital and mental health treatment settings. Women who attended a tertiary obstetric hospital in the state of Western Australia antenatally or postpartum (n = 437) completed the PASS and other commonly used measures of depression and anxiety. Factor analysis was used to examine factor structure, and ROC analysis was used to evaluate performance as a screening tool. The PASS was significantly correlated with other measures of depression and anxiety. Principal component analyses (PCA) suggested a four-factor structure addressing symptoms of (1) acute anxiety and adjustment, (2) general worry and specific fears, (3) perfectionism, control and trauma and (4) social anxiety. The four subscales and total scale demonstrated high to excellent reliabilities. At the optimal cutoff score for detecting anxiety as determined by ROC analyses, the PASS identified 68 % of women with a diagnosed anxiety disorder. This was compared to the EPDS anxiety subscale which detected 36 % of anxiety disorders. The PASS is an acceptable, valid and useful screening tool for the identification of risk of significant anxiety in women in the perinatal period.

Thanks for the answer. It looks quite interesting!

I would emphasize that this depends very much on the aim of your study. Usually this sale is used within a few days or a week after delivery, but this varies between studies. There is a recent population based study from Sweden (Sylven AM et al, Acta Obstetricia et Gynecologica Scandinavica, 92;2013) where the EPDS was used five days after delivery, again six weeks and six months postpartum in a longitudinal design. This study investigated a possible association between postpartum depression and premenstrual symptoms.

Thanks a lot for your accurate answer. My study is a longitudinal one from the beginning of the pregnancy (assessing with questionnaires and hair cortisol) to six months after delivery (planning to do some neuropsychological evaluation on babies as well).

Thank you again.

Regards

Rafa

I would appreciate if anybody could tell me where to find a free access pdf version of the Cox, Holden & Sagovsky article from 1987 about EPDS.

Thank you