Inventory of Evidence-Based Practices (EBPs) for Healthy Start Programs

Evidence-based practices include actions, activities, strategies, or approaches that improve the health of women, before, during, and after pregnancy in order to improve birth outcomes and give infants up to age two years a healthy start. Also included in the collection are informational materials and tools that make it easier to implement evidence-based practices. To search by title, use the main search box located at the top of this page.


Postpartum Depression Screening Scale (PDSS)

The PDSS is a 35-item self-report instrument that can be administered in 5-10 minutes. Identifies women who are at high risk for postpartum depression so that they can be referred for definitive diagnosis and treatment. Written at a third grade reading level.

Topics:

Depression

Approaches:

Strengthen Family Resilience

Benchmarks:

Perinatal Depression Screening

Evidence Rating: III. Expert guidelines—Protocols, standards of practice, or recommendations based on expert consensus.

Edinburgh Postnatal Depression Scale (EPDS)

The Edinburgh Postnatal Depression Scale was developed to screen postpartum women for depression in an outpatient setting. It is a 10 question screen that takes about 3-5 minutes to complete, and is easy to score. The EPDS asks the patient how she has been feeling over the last seven days. It has been validated for use during both pregnancy and the post-partum period. It has been translated into 23 languages.

Topics:

Depression

Approaches:

Strengthen Family Resilience

Benchmarks:

Perinatal Depression Screening

Evidence Rating: III. Expert guidelines—Protocols, standards of practice, or recommendations based on expert consensus.

Patient Health Questionnaire-9 (PHQ-9)

Nine item questionnaire for patients to measure depressive symptoms over the past two weeks. Questions are linked to the DSM-IV depression criteria, and therefore scores can be used to track changes in depression as a response to treatment. Included on the Healthy Start National Evaluation Program Survey

Topics:

Depression

Approaches:

Strengthen Family Resilience

Benchmarks:

Perinatal Depression Screening

Evidence Rating: III. Expert guidelines—Protocols, standards of practice, or recommendations based on expert consensus.

Center for Epidemiologic Studies Depression Scale Revised CESD-R

The CESD-R is a screening test for depression and depressive disorder. The CESD-R measures symptoms defined by the American Psychiatric Association’ Diagnostic and Statistical Manual (DSM-V) for a major depressive episode. The scale is well known and remains as one of the most widely used instruments in the field.

Topics:

Depression

Approaches:

Strengthen Family Resilience

Benchmarks:

Perinatal Depression Screening

Evidence Rating: III. Expert guidelines—Protocols, standards of practice, or recommendations based on expert consensus.

BDI-FastScreen

The BDI-FastScreen is a 7-item self-reporting instrument used to quickly screen for depression in adolescents and adults. The screen can identify depression while excluding symptoms that might be related to medical problems, and was specifically designed for evaluating depression in patients whose behavioral and somatic symptoms attributable to biological, medical, alcohol and/or substance abuse problems may confound diagnosis.

Topics:

Depression

Approaches:

Strengthen Family Resilience

Benchmarks:

Perinatal Depression Screening

Evidence Rating: III. Expert guidelines—Protocols, standards of practice, or recommendations based on expert consensus.