Abstract

Childbirth is an emotionally challenging experience, resulting for some women in depression. A predictive tool to assist the identification of women at risk of developing depression would prove invaluable to practitioners in facilitating strategies to manage psychological distress. Usually emotions are managed in such a way that they do not interfere with everyday life. This management can be measured using the emotional processing scale (EPS), a validated self-report questionnaire. Using the EPS, together with other measurement tools, a study is currently taking place that follows a cohort of 960 women from early pregnancy to six weeks postpartum to investigate the relationship between emotional processing and perinatal depression with emotional processing as a possible risk factor. The study also explores the predictive quality of impaired processing as an indicator of depression. Although research is still ongoing the implications of the emergent findings should prove to be significant for the future care of women and their families.