Assessment and Interventions for Perinatal Depression

Published: October 2018
Available in English, French, Spanish
Mental health and substance use,  Population health

Purpose and scope

The purpose of this best practice guideline (BPG) is to present evidence-based recommendations for nurses and the interprofessional team across all care settings to enhance the quality of their practices to support the reduced incidence of perinatal depression through the implementation of five…

The purpose of this best practice guideline (BPG) is to present evidence-based recommendations for nurses and the interprofessional team across all care settings to enhance the quality of their practices to support the reduced incidence of perinatal depression through the implementation of five components of care: routine screening, assessment, prevention, coordinated interventions, and evaluation.

The scope of this BPG recognizes perinatal depression as the most commonly occurring mood disorder during pregnancy and postpartum  . Furthermore, while recognition is given to the impact that perinatal depression can have on partners, infants, other children, and families (as defined by the person), the scope of this BPG is limited to the person at risk for or experiencing perinatal depression.

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Guideline overview
Reference

Registered Nurses’ Association of Ontario. Assessment and Interventions for Perinatal Depression. 2nd ed. Toronto (ON): Registered Nurses’ Association of Ontario; 2018.

Recommendations

Do you want to learn about and implement the most- up-to-date evidence-based recommendations on this topic with your colleagues? Download and share the full best practice guideline (BPG), Assessment and Interventions for Perinatal Depression.
See below for a snapshot of the recommendations from this BPG. We strongly suggest you review the full BPG before implementing the recommendations and good practice statements. The BPG also includes further resources to support implementation and evaluation.  

Disclaimer: These guidelines are not binding for nurses, other health providers or the organizations that employ them. The use of these guidelines should be flexible and based on individual needs and local circumstances. They constitute neither a liability nor discharge from liability. While every effort has been made to ensure the accuracy of the contents at the time of publication, neither the authors nor the Registered Nurses’ Association of Ontario (RNAO) gives any guarantee as to the accuracy of the information contained in them or accepts any liability with respect to loss, damage, injury or expense arising from any such errors or omission in the contents of this work.

Revision status

Current edition published: October 2018

This BPG replaces the RNAO BPG Interventions for Postpartum Depression (2005). 

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