Postpartum Depression and Anxiety among Lebanese Women: Correlates and Scales Psychometric Properties

Abstract

Background: We found that it was important to fill a gap in the literature and check the psychometric properties of the Edinburgh Postnatal Depression Scale (EPDS) and Perinatal Anxiety Screening Scale (PASS) in the Arabic language and delineate factors associated with postnatal depression (PPD) and anxiety (PPA) among Lebanese women 4–6 weeks after delivery. Methods: This cross-sectional study carried out between July 2018 and March 2019 enrolled 295 participants who came for a postnatal checkup at four clinics. Results: The EPDS and PASS scales’ items converged over two- and four-factor solutions, explaining 62.51% and 53.33% of the variance, respectively (KMO EPDS = 0.816, αCronbach EPDS = 0.826; KMO PASS = 0.878, αCronbach PASS = 0.920; Bartlett’s test of sphericity p Conclusion: Depression and anxiety prevalence rates in the Lebanese population were higher compared with other countries, which may be due in part to the differences in regional, social and environmental culture.

Keywords

• postpartum
• depression
• anxiety
• factors
• Lebanon