Abstract

This review examine the results obtained by some studies conducted using the Edinburgh Postnatal Depression Scale (EPDS), a self-evaluation questionnaire originally designed by the authors (Cox et al., 1987) to reveal depressive maternal symptomatology after childbirth. With reference to those EPDS data, the properties and psychometric characteristics of the instrument are investigated. In particular, we report results obtained of the questionnaire through the widespread use in both clinical and research settings, data from the Italian validation, and discuss the limits of the instrument. Considering the results of our review, we conclude that, in the future, it would be advisable a new version of EPDS and a to obtain new Italian validation of the questionnaire.