Evaluation of the CORE-10 to assess psychological distress in pregnancy

Abstract

ABSTRACT Background Women experience diverse symptoms of mental ill-health in pregnancy, yet measures usually only assess depression or anxiety. Measures may, therefore, miss out on identifying women experiencing distress. Objective We aimed to examine the validity and reliability of the CORE-10: a short measure with broad coverage of symptoms of distress and associated functioning, in pregnant women. Methods 366 women 26–38 weeks pregnant completed online measures of distress (CORE-10), depression (Whooley questions), anxiety (Generalised Anxiety Disorder-2), and a single item measuring worry about psychological health. We examined convergent and factorial validity and concordance rates of the measures. Results Levels of distress were high, with anxiety the most reported symptom. The CORE-10 showed good convergent validity. A two-factor structure representing ‘symptoms’ and ‘ways of coping’ best fit this sample. Internal reliability of the symptoms' factor was good. Discussion The self-selected online sample may not be representative of pregnant women in the third trimester and a diagnostic interview was not used. Based on this validation study, the CORE-10 potentially offers an assessment of a broad range of symptoms of postnatal distress within the confines of a measure brief enough to be usable in clinical settings. Further validation is needed.