Postpartum Depression Screening in the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit at a Tertiary Pediatric Hospital
Date of Award
Summer 8-30-2024
Document Type
Doctor of Nursing Practice Final Manuscript
Degree Name
Doctor of Nursing Practice
Department
Nursing
First Advisor
Razel B. Milo, PH.D., DNP., FNP-C
Abstract
POSTPARTUM DEPRESSION SCREENING IN THE NEONATAL INTENSIVE CARE UNIT AT A TERTIARY PEDICTRIC HOSPITAL
By
Abbie Kim Bates
Razel Bacuetes Milo, PH.D. DNP., FNP-C
Background: Postpartum depression (PPD) is a treatable mood disorder with an onset at 1-3 months after childbirth. In the United States, PPD occurs at a rate of 1 in 8 women and as high as 1 in 5 women in parts of the country. In unique populations such as the neonatal intensive care unit (NICU), PPD rates can be as high as 40%. The treatment rate for PPD is 50% with a sizable percentage of PPD going undetected.
EBP Change Project Process: In this EBP project, 58% of the NICU nurses in the unit participated in 1-hour PPD education during a staff meeting on two different days. The content of the nurses’ education included the following: PPD prevalence rates, maternal mortality rates, symptoms of “baby blues” compared to PPD, types of treatments, the Edinburgh Postpartum Depression Screening tool, hormones that affect PPD, and the Postpartum Health Alliance brochure. Before implementing the project, the NICU social worker was able to identify policies and procedures to handle the potential situation of a mother with suicidal ideation during their PPD assessment. An eight-question Nurse Knowledge Measurement survey scored on a Likert scale was used before and after the education offerings. A final 2-questions nurse survey was administered 3 months post-education to measure clinical practice change.
EBP Outcomes: The combined two-day average difference comparison indicates the education increased the nurses’ knowledge of postpartum depression and screening. The total possible average score of the nurse education survey was 40 points. The average score of the pre-education survey was 26.5 and the post-education survey 31.5, an average difference of 5 points. For the final nurse survey to assess the change in the clinical practice, 18 nurses responded. The results indicate a 22.22% increase in nurses providing PPD education to parents and a 55.56% increase in social work referrals for PPD assessment during the 3-months after the education offering.
Digital USD Citation
Bates, Abbie, "Postpartum Depression Screening in the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit at a Tertiary Pediatric Hospital" (2024). Doctor of Nursing Practice Final Manuscripts. 287.
https://digital.sandiego.edu/dnp/287
Copyright
Copyright held by the author
Included in
Maternal, Child Health and Neonatal Nursing Commons, Mental Disorders Commons, Psychiatric and Mental Health Commons, Psychiatric and Mental Health Nursing Commons