Further development of the Postpartum Depression Predictors Inventory-Revised

To describe the newly developed item coding and computation of the total score for the Postpartum Depression Predictors Inventory-Revised along with recommended cutoff points.

Methodologic research.

Obstetrician and gynecologist offices in the Pacific Northwest.

This longitudinal study included 139 women; the study began in the participant's third trimester of pregnancy and ended at 8 months after childbirth.

The participants completed the Postpartum Depression Predictors Inventory-Revised in their third trimester of pregnancy and again at 2 and 6 months after childbirth. Postpartum depression symptoms were measured by the Edinburgh Postnatal Depression Scale and psychiatric nurse practitioner interview at 2 and 6 months after childbirth.

Sensitivity and specificity of the Postpartum Depression Predictors Inventory-Revised at three points: prenatal and 2 and 6 months after childbirth.

The receiver operating characteristic curve analysis indicated that the Prenatal Postpartum Depression Predictors Inventory-Revised performed well and explained 67% of the variance of postpartum depressive symptomatology as measured by Edinburgh Postnatal Depression Scale scores. The Prenatal Postpartum Depression Predictors Inventory-Revised yielded a sensitivity of .76 and a specificity of .54 at a cutoff score of 10.5.

A cutoff score of 10.5 is recommended when using the Postpartum Depression Predictors Inventory-Revised during pregnancy. Further research needs to be conducted on recommended cutoff scores for use of the Postpartum Depression Predictors Inventory-Revised during the postpartum period.