Edinburgh Postnatal Depression Scale (EPDS) and Community Health Research Paper

Edinburgh Postnatal Depression Scale (EPDS) and Community Health Nursing - Research Paper Example Research reveals that postnatal depression affects about ten to fifteen out of every one hundred women before and after delivery. Edinburgh Postnatal Depression Scale helps test for postnatal depression and normal mental health counseling treats postnatal depression. There are socio-demographic factors that influence the level of severity of postnatal depression in different women and their initiative or choice to seek help. This paper presents evidence-based research knowledge on the effectiveness of Edinburgh Postnatal Depression Scale tool. The paper also discusses why minority and low income women have high scores in the diagnosis of postnatal depression. The paper closes with suggestions on what community health nurses can do to help these women to get the healthcare they need. There has been recent research seeking to establish the effectiveness of Edinburgh Postnatal Depression Scale. Majority of this research submit that the tool is effective and is widely used. A study conducted in 2010 tested the effectiveness of Edinburgh postnatal depression scale in testing for adolescent depression (Anderson, 2010). The sample of the study included one hundred and forty one adolescent participants of Latina, African-American, and Caucasian origin. The study offered that postpartum depression affects up to sixty-nine percent adolescent women after childbirth. The study noted that adolescent postpartum depression was often overlooked and when noted, it was tested through normal clinical assessment. The study concluded that Edinburgh postnatal depression scale is an accurate tool to use for testing postpartum in adolescents. In 2011, another group of researchers conducted a study to test for the results of a postnatal depression-screening program that uses the Edinburgh postnatal depression scale (Leung et. al., 2011). An observation of the lack of