Validation of Edinburgh Postnatal Depression Scale (EPDS) in Perinatal Women under War Conditions in Ukraine

Background: The present study aimed to assess the psychometric properties and the factor structure of the Ukrainian version of the Edinburgh Postnatal Depression Scale (EPDS) in the prenatal and postpartum women. Method: In a cross-sectional study, 625 participants, including 207 (33.2%) pregnant and 408 (66%) postpartum women, completed online questionnaires: Edinburgh Postnatal Depression Scale (EPDS), the City Birth Trauma Scale (City BiTS), Generalized Anxiety Disorder (GAD-7) and a sociodemographic questionnaire. Results: A 3-factor model (anhedonia, anxiety, and depression) is the best fit to the data, both for antepartum and postpartum samples. EPDS exhibits excellent internal consistency for the overall scale and good internal consistency for its subscales. The total sample’s Cronbach’s alpha has a value of .87 for antepartum women and .86 for postpartum women, similar to those of the original scale. Conclusions: The Ukrainian version of EPDS is reliable and can be used to screen in the perinatal period, during pregnancy, and in the postpartum period.