Evaluation of the EPDS and PC-PTSD-5 Scales for Screening Postpartum Mental Health Disorders Among Migrant Women. - NCT07929272

Postpartum depression (affecting approximately 15% of women) and childbirth-related post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) (affecting approximately 5%) are major public health concerns due to their frequency and their impact on both maternal and child health. Diagnosis relies on specialized clinical interviews, which are difficult to offer systematically to all women after childbirth. Consequently, self-report screening tools are widely used, particularly the Edinburgh Postnatal Depression Scale (EPDS) for postpartum depression and the Primary Care PTSD Screen for DSM-5 (PC-PTSD-5) for PTSD. However, these tools were developed and validated in the general population and may be less suitable for certain groups, particularly migrant women, who are at increased risk of postpartum mental health disorders. Their migration experiences are sometimes marked by traumatic events, which may contribute to complex forms of PTSD, and their clinical presentations may differ from those typically observed. Certain culturally specific expressions of psychological distress, dissociative symptoms, or somatic manifestations are not captured by current screening questionnaires. Furthermore, cultural differences, perceptions of mental health, and language barriers may complicate the psychological assessment of these women and influence their responses to screening tools. These specific factors suggest that existing questionnaires may have insufficient diagnostic performance in some groups of migrant women. The Psy4Mums project therefore aims to assess the relevance and performance of these screening tools in migrant populations that are particularly vulnerable from psychological, social, and economic perspectives. This evaluation may, if necessary, lead to adaptations in their content, cutoff scores, or methods of administration in order to improve the identification of postpartum mental health disorders. This approach is especially important in French Guiana, where more than half of all women giving birth are migrants.