Abstract
Objectives. To develop a Polish adaptation of the Postpartum Depression Screening Scale (PDSS) for the assessment of riskfor postpartum depression, and to evaluate its psychometric properties.
Method. Soon after giving birth to a child 194 young mothers were examined using the PDSS in the Polish adaptation. Their mean age was 27.9 (SD=4.01). The majority of the participants were married (87.6%) and had a university education (69.9%). In most cases it was their first pregnancy (75.3%), with a spontaneous labor (69.1%). The mean time from childbirth was 4.97 weeks (SD=1.76).
Results. The Cronbach alpha coefficient of reliability was 0.97 for the whole scale, and 0.81 for the brief version. The brief form of the PDSS was significantly correlated with the global scale (r = 0.90, p<0.01). The patients' scores both on the global and abbreviated PDSS versions were significantly correlated with their BDI scores (r = 0.761, p<0.01; r = 0.646, p<0.001, respectively), as well as with their EPDS performance (r = 0.801, p < 0.01; r = 0.741, p < 0.01, respectively).
Conclusions. Psychometric properties of the Polish adaptation of the PDSS do not differ from these of the original version of the scale. The reliability parameters obtained in the study were high. The Polish adaptation of the PDSS can well be used for the assessment of riskfor depression.