title: Are you often sad and depressed? Brief measures to identify women at risk for depression in pregnancy.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  The purpose of this study was to test brief depression screening measures as an initial step to identify women at risk for depression in pregnancy.
  
  
  METHODS
  Psychometric theory and a prospective correlational research design with a convenience sample of 130 low-income women guided this study. Measurements included (a) single-item depression-screening measures, (b) a two-item depression screening measure, (c) the Brief Depression Screen (BDS), and (d) the Beck Depression Inventory-II (BDI-II), a standardized measure of self-reported depression that has been used widely in pregnancy.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Depressive symptoms in pregnancy among these low-income women were 27% (35/128) as determined by a score of 16 or greater on the BDI-II. The two-item depression screening measure, "Are you often sad and depressed?" and "Have you had a loss of pleasurable activities?" had a sensitivity of 91% and a specificity of 52%, whereas the BDS measure had sensitivity of 53% and specificity of 80%.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Asking the two-item screening questions could be an essential first step in determining which women should receive further evaluation and interventions aimed at treating depression during pregnancy.
authors.affiliation: East Carolina University, Greenville, NC, USA. jessed@mail.ecu.edu
authors.forename: D Elizabeth
authors.initials: DE
authors.lastname: Jesse
authors.forename: Marilyn
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Graham
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D001741:Black or African American / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D003863:Depression / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000517:prevention & control; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008429:Maternal Welfare / Q000523:psychology; D016389:Maternal-Child Nursing / Q000592:standards*; D015146:Midwestern United States; D009730:Nursing Assessment / Q000379:methods; D011203:Poverty / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D011247:Pregnancy; D011248:Pregnancy Complications / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000517:prevention & control; D011295:Prenatal Care / Q000379:methods*; D011446:Prospective Studies; D011594:Psychometrics; D012307:Risk Factors; D012680:Sensitivity and Specificity; D012720:Severity of Illness Index; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires / Q000592:standards*; D044465:White People / Q000706:statistics & numerical data