Integrating Perinatal Depression Screening Into WIC at a Federally Qualified Health Center

The Problem: Perinatal depression (PD) is a prevalent condition among low-income women, yet screening during pregnancy and in the first year postpartum is not routine practice in the United States.

Purpose: A team of academic and community partners share experiences with integrating depression screening into a Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women Infants and Children (WIC) that is co-located at an urban Federally Qualified Health Center (FQHC).

Key Points: Academic and community partners shared an interest in integrating depression screening into WIC; however, there were implementation challenges. The partners identified strategies to mitigate barriers to screening in the WIC program. As a result, more than 1,000 pregnant and postpartum women were screened for depression and referred for additional services.

Conclusion: Successful integration of the Patient Health Questionnaire, a 2-question validated depression screener in this co-located WIC program, demonstrates the feasibility of this approach for other communities.