Perinatal depression is one of the most common perinatal complications. It occurs in up to 19% of pregnant or postpartum women. It can negatively affect pregnancy outcomes and compromise the parent-infant relationship, in turn impacting childhood development. Perinatal depression screening is recognized as an effective means of identifying perinatal depression. The American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists recommends screening pregnant and postpartum women. Maternal depression occurs five to ten times as often as gestational diabetes and at least as often as pregnancy-induced hypertension. Screening for perinatal depression is a logical step toward optimizing patient health outcomes. Prior to the implementation of this project, there were no screening processes, tools, or guidelines in place for identifying mothers at risk for perinatal depression at the project site. Clinicians were not trained to educate patients on perinatal depression or to address it fully with treatment and patient education on perinatal depression. Considering the prevalence and risks associated, it is important to implement a perinatal depression screening process and a referral system with resources to for those who screen positive. The project proposed to address this by implementing a depression screening process.
