Best Practices: Community-Based Postpartum Depression Screening: Results From the CARE Study

This paper describes the features, findings and best practice recommendations from the CARE Study, a prospective randomized study in which 5,169 mothers were screened for postpartum depression 4 weeks after delivery.Data were analyzed to determine postpartum depression prevalence rate, risk factors, and characteristics of women who were and were not asked about their emotional health.The screening initiative was successful and is ready for testing in clinical practice.Results support use of the EPDS with diagnostic confirmation for accurately identifying women at risk for postpartum depression.A major observation from this study was that a large number of women with positive screens were not asked about their emotional state by clinicians.Referral and follow-up of affected women links screening to treatment options.Best practice strategies for implementing a screening protocol include education for both postpartum women and providers.