Assessment and screening tools for childbirth-related psychological trauma in nursing practice - A systematic review

Every year, 134 million births are recorded worldwide. Nearly a third of women describe psychotraumatic symptoms related to childbirth. Post-traumatic stress disorder in the post-partum period affects between 3.1% and 6.3% of mothers. It can lead to relational disturbances in the mother-child bond and affect the child's development. Due to the under-detection of this disorder, early detection and treatment are necessary. This literature review aims to evaluate and compare the psychometric properties of screening and assessment tools for birth-related psychological trauma. The aim is to highlight the screening tools available for nurses and advanced practice nurses working in perinatal child psychiatry.

Systematic review.

A total of six databases, including PubMed, Scopus, CINAHL, MEDLINE, HAL, Web of Science, were screened during April and July 2023. Despite querying multiple databases due to the specificity of the subject, the exclusively relevant studies were identified through PubMed.

The Joanna Briggs Institute's Critical Appraisal Tool was used to conduct a critical appraisal of the selected articles.

Among the 368 studies screened, 38 were selected after reviewing the titles and abstracts. 26 were assessed in full-text, and 10 were included in our results, highlighting 3 tools aimed at assessing postpartum psychological trauma: The "Traumatic Event Scale," the "Perinatal PTSD Questionnaire," and the "City Birth Trauma Scale."

These three scales and questionnaires have good psychometric properties. However, there is heterogeneity in the number and quality of studies used to validate these tools. Only one study aimed at validating the Traumatic Event Scale, which displayed some weaknesses. On the other hand, both the Perinatal PTSD Questionnaire and the City Birth Trauma Scale have shown a good level of validity with rigorous methodologies and incorporating a greater number of studies on the subject. Specifically, there are 4 and 5 studies respectively validating the psychometric properties of these tools. The results from these studies are consistently aligned with each other. These tools are well-suited for screening, prevention, and research in Advanced Practice Nursing in perinatal child psychiatry.