Nurse-led postpartum discharge education programme including information on postnatal depression reduces risk of high depression scores at 3-month follow-up
- Correspondence to C Jane Morrell
Research Leader, Centre for Health and Social Care Research, School of Human and Health Sciences, University of Huddersfield, Queensgate, Huddersfield HD1 3DH, UK; j.morrell{at}hud.ac.uk
It is difficult to predict who will suffer depressive symptoms postnatally, and many of these symptoms can remain unidentified by healthcare professionals. Special training for health visitors can reduce the symptoms of depression among postnatal women, and antidepressants may help.1 2 The Edinburgh Postnatal Depression Scale is the instrument most frequently used to identify postnatal depression in primary care.3
This interesting, small study, labelled ‘a randomised controlled evaluation study’, aimed to evaluate the effect of a postdelivery, hospital discharge education programme on postpartum depression, but the exact methods are unclear. The authors …
