Inventory of Evidence-Based Practices (EBPs) for Healthy Start Programs
Evidence-based practices include actions, activities, strategies, or approaches that improve the health of women, before, during, and after pregnancy in order to improve birth outcomes and give infants up to age two years a healthy start. Also included in the collection are informational materials and tools that make it easier to implement evidence-based practices. To search by title, use the main search box located at the top of this page.
4Ps Plus© is the first validated instrument that has been developed to screen for alcohol, tobacco, and illicit drug use; depression; and domestic violence, specifically in pregnant women. In addition, brief intervention strategies, grounded in motivational interviewing techniques, are integrated into the screening process. “I am concerned…” is an interactive, multisensory psychoeducational approach that takes about five minutes and is administered to all women who are found through the screening process to be using alcohol, tobacco, or illicit drugs.
Topics:
Alcohol/Drug Services Depression Intimate Partner Violence Prenatal Care and Education Risk Assessment Tobacco Cessation
Approaches:
Promote Quality Strengthen Family Resilience
Benchmarks:
Intimate Partner Violence Perinatal Depression Screening Smoking Abstinence
Evidence Rating:
II. Promising practices—Innovative practices employed in the field, based on state-of-science knowledge about what works to improve outcomes, and gathering evidence of effectiveness.
The PDSS is a 35-item self-report instrument that can be administered in 5-10 minutes. Identifies women who are at high risk for postpartum depression so that they can be referred for definitive diagnosis and treatment. Written at a third grade reading level.
Topics:
Depression
Approaches:
Strengthen Family Resilience
Benchmarks:
Perinatal Depression Screening
Evidence Rating:
III. Expert guidelines—Protocols, standards of practice, or recommendations based on expert consensus.
The Edinburgh Postnatal Depression Scale was developed to screen postpartum women for depression in an outpatient setting. It is a 10 question screen that takes about 3-5 minutes to complete, and is easy to score. The EPDS asks the patient how she has been feeling over the last seven days. It has been validated for use during both pregnancy and the post-partum period. It has been translated into 23 languages.
Topics:
Depression
Approaches:
Strengthen Family Resilience
Benchmarks:
Perinatal Depression Screening
Evidence Rating:
III. Expert guidelines—Protocols, standards of practice, or recommendations based on expert consensus.
Nine item questionnaire for patients to measure depressive symptoms over the past two weeks. Questions are linked to the DSM-IV depression criteria, and therefore scores can be used to track changes in depression as a response to treatment. Included on the Healthy Start National Evaluation Program Survey
Topics:
Depression
Approaches:
Strengthen Family Resilience
Benchmarks:
Perinatal Depression Screening
Evidence Rating:
III. Expert guidelines—Protocols, standards of practice, or recommendations based on expert consensus.
Two question screening tool to measure the frequency of depressed mood and anhedonia over the past two weeks. Includes the first two questions from the PHQ-9. Included on the Healthy Start National Evaluation Program Survey.
Topics:
Depression
Approaches:
Strengthen Family Resilience
Benchmarks:
Perinatal Depression Screening
Evidence Rating:
III. Expert guidelines—Protocols, standards of practice, or recommendations based on expert consensus.
A ten-item diagnostic questionnaire used with patients with mood disorders to measure severity of depressive episodes.
Topics:
Depression
Approaches:
Strengthen Family Resilience
Benchmarks:
Perinatal Depression Screening
Evidence Rating:
III. Expert guidelines—Protocols, standards of practice, or recommendations based on expert consensus.
One of the oldest and most frequently used screening questionnaires to measure the severity of and change in depressive symptoms among adults in an inpatient setting.
Topics:
Depression
Approaches:
Strengthen Family Resilience
Benchmarks:
Perinatal Depression Screening
Evidence Rating:
III. Expert guidelines—Protocols, standards of practice, or recommendations based on expert consensus.
The CESD-R is a screening test for depression and depressive disorder. The CESD-R measures symptoms defined by the American Psychiatric Association’ Diagnostic and Statistical Manual (DSM-V) for a major depressive episode. The scale is well known and remains as one of the most widely used instruments in the field.
Topics:
Depression
Approaches:
Strengthen Family Resilience
Benchmarks:
Perinatal Depression Screening
Evidence Rating:
III. Expert guidelines—Protocols, standards of practice, or recommendations based on expert consensus.
The BDI-FastScreen is a 7-item self-reporting instrument used to quickly screen for depression in adolescents and adults. The screen can identify depression while excluding symptoms that might be related to medical problems, and was specifically designed for evaluating depression in patients whose behavioral and somatic symptoms attributable to biological, medical, alcohol and/or substance abuse problems may confound diagnosis.
Topics:
Depression
Approaches:
Strengthen Family Resilience
Benchmarks:
Perinatal Depression Screening
Evidence Rating:
III. Expert guidelines—Protocols, standards of practice, or recommendations based on expert consensus.