Difference Between EPDS & PDPI-R

The Edinburgh Postnatal Depression Scale, or EPDS, and the revised edition of the Postpartum Depression Predictors Inventory, or PDPI-R, are both used to assess the severity of a female patient's postpartum depression, or PPD. However, these two psychometric tools have different evaluative methods in which the results of each indicator are measured.

Types of Questions Asked on the EPDS

• Inquiries regarding a woman's emotional well-being seven days after childbirth are asked on this 10-question survey. One of the questions asks if the patient looks forward to any activities she enjoyed doing before and during her pregnancy once she gives birth. The patient then replies by acknowledging her continued or discontinued interest in her daily activities, which can be answered as "as much as I ever did," "rather" or "definitely less than I did," or "hardly at all."

Types of Questions Asked on the PDPI-R

• Thirteen variables, or risk factors, related to a woman's state of mind or self-consciousness after childbirth are inventoried on this multiple-choice PPD predictor. The types of risk factors depend on the woman's marital status and satisfaction, socio-economic status, self-esteem, pre-pregnancy episodes of anxiety and depression, social support networks and life stress. In addition, the PDPI-R asks if the patient's newborn child experienced digestive, temperamental, sleep-related or other health problems after delivery.

How the EPDS is Scored

• The female patient's responses are scored on the basis of the severity of her postpartum symptoms, with the number 3 being the highest score, or most severe indicator, for each question. For example, the number 3 is added to the score sheet when the patient answers the "sadness or misery" question as either "yes, most of the time" or "yes, quite often." If the patient's responses to all of the "happiness" and "laughter" questions asked on the EPDS are "no," there is a greater likelihood she has severe clinical depression.

How the PDPI-R is Scored

• The likelihood that a woman undergoing postnatal care will experience significant bouts of PPD is determined by the number of "yes" responses to the questions regarding the patient's anxiety, depression, life stress and other negative life factors. That being said, if the patient answers "yes" to all of the depression-related questions on this survey, she would need to be referred to a qualified professional for additional PPD treatment.