Utilization of the scale of depression post childbirth of the edinburgh in a maternity ward of a county paraiba

Objective: To verify the risk for Postpartum Depression from the use of the Edimburgh Scale in an obstetric service in a municipality of Paraíba. Method: field research, descriptive, with quantitative approach. The research was carried out in the joint housing sector and the sample comprised of 136 puerperal women over the age of 18 who were hospitalized in the service in March and April 2019. The Edinburgh Scale was used for data collection. Brazilian version. The data were analyzed through the statistical package Statistical Package for the Social Sciences, version 21, and discussed in the light of scientific literature. Results: 95 (69,9%) of the postpartum women were between 18 and 29 years of age, 72 (52.9%) were in a stable union, 64 (47,1%) had primary education and 94 (69,1%) were domestic. Regarding the obstetric data, 58 (42,6%) were multi-stage, 105 (77,2%) had no abortion, 98 (72,1%) started prenatal care early. Of the women interviewed, 107 (78,7%) scored from 0 to 9, which indicates low risk for Postpartum Depression. Final considerations: Through the use of the Edinburgh Postpartum Depression Scale, it was possible to evaluate the risk as well as to alert the nurses' need for preparation so that they can approach the puerperae and identify early the risks for the development of this disease.