Postnatal depression and prevention: the role of partners

BACKGROUND: Postnatal depression represents the most common condition of psychological suffering after childbirth. It is essential to implement appropriate programs of screening and intervention, involving partners as useful informants of postpartum women’s depressive symptoms. This research aims to investigate the role of women’s global perceived support by partners, in the development of the depressive symptomatology. Our goal it is also to examine the possible role of partner in screening procedures. METHODS: Responses of a sample of 101 women and their partners to a series of questionnaires were compared between two groups: an experimental group which participated in a psychoeducational intervention and a control group. RESULTS: Most of the women has claimed to have received good support both before and after childbirth, preferring information received. In the postpartum period we found that EPDS-P (Moran and O’Hara, 2006) scores obtained before delivery were significantly associated with EPDS scores of women before and after childbirth. In addition, EPDS-P scores obtained after birth were significantly associated with EPDS scores of women after childbirth. It is necessary to take into account the limits of self-report instruments and the need for standardized psychiatric interviews for comparison. CONCLUSIONS: Data seem to suggest that the EPDS-P provides relevant information on depressive symptoms of women both at the time of assessment and in the predictive form. Involving the partners in preventive interventions on the possible puerperal discomforts may make them more aware of the importance of their role in identifying and understanding the subjective experience of women.