The retrospective diagnosis of postnatal depression by questionnaire

The Bromley postnatal depression scale is a new screening instrument specifically developed for detecting the presence of both current and previous episodes of postnatal depression. The scale gives a brief description of postnatal depression and respondents are asked to decide whether or not they had experienced such an illness following childbirth. The scale has satisfactory test-retest reliability and a Cohen's Kappa of 0.80 for previous postnatal depressive episodes. Using another scale which measures DSM.III major depression, the Bromley scale has a sensitivity of 62% and a specificity of 94%. The principle advantages of this method are that it provides information about previous postnatal periods and so provides longitudinal information and the method can be also used in postal surveys.