Journal of evaluation in clinical practice
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The Hamilton depression rating scale (HDRS) is seen as an international gold standard for the measurement of depression. High rates of untreated depression, including perinatal depression, support the rationale to adapt and validate a structured version of the HDRS to be used by non-clinicians in low-income settings. ⋯ The AFFIRM-HDRS is adequately structured to be used by non-clinicians in an isiXhosa speaking perinatal population. It is hoped that this structured tool can be used to assist with identification and referral of these at-risk populations by non-clinicians in resource-constrained environments, thereby playing a role in addressing the treatment gap for perinatal depression in LMICs.