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APHA Scientific Session and Event Listing

Hannah Kurtis¹, Dechen Wangmo¹, Jessica Kovler¹, John Collins, CNM, MPH², Nitza Latorre, RN², and Carmen Gonzalez, RN². (1) Department of Epidemiology and Public Health, Yale University, 60 College St, New Haven, CT 06510, (413) 530 9965, hannah.kurtis@yale.edu, (2) Bridgeport Community Health Center, 982 East Main Street, Bridgeport, CT 06608

There is clinical recognition of widespread depression among Hispanic and African-American pregnant and postpartum teens and women who receive health care at the Bridgeport Community Health Center (BCHC), a not-for profit, federally funded, community health center. Undiagnosed or under-treated prenatal and postpartum depression is known to have devastating effects on women and their families. For women living in situations of economic and social impoverishment, depression associated with childbirth is yet another burden negatively affecting quality of life. In order to better serve the perinatal patients at BCHC, there is great need for the development of a clinical protocol for aggressive clinical depression screening and management. This study seeks to plan, pilot and evaluate a system of clinical depression screening for perinatal patients at BCHC. It will be a collaboration between BCHC staff and students at Yale University's School of Epidemiology and Public Health. This project is supported through grants from the Connecticut Department of Public Health and the March of Dimes. Data collection will be completed by BCHC's perinatal staff on a non-duplicated convenience sample of Hispanic and African-American women coming into BCHC for their initial and 35/36 week prenatal visit and their six week postpartum visit. Prenatal and postpartum data collection will use the Patient Health Questionnaire (PHQ-9) and the Postpartum Depression Screening Scale (PDSS) respectively. Univariate, bivariate and multivariate analyses including chi square, categorical analysis and modeling will be used to analyze data and make intervention recommendations. Qualitative surveys of clinical providers will also be competed.

Learning Objectives:

• Recognize common risk factors for prenatal and postpartum depression among minority teens and women.
• Describe trends in the timeline of depression onset.
• Discuss preliminary recommendations for a management strategy and structural or process changes to establish a center-wide and community integrated program of care, mental health and social services for perinatal patients.

Keywords: Maternal and Child Health, Depression

Presenting author's disclosure statement:

Not Answered