Friday, July 8, 2022, the Faculty of Public Health (FPH) of the Universitas Indonesia (UI) held an open session for the online promotion of Doctor of Public Health Sciences on behalf of Dewi Nirmala Sari. Dewi defended her dissertation entitled “Development of a Screening System for Anxiety and Depression Symptoms in Pregnant Women Based on Expert System in Antenatal Services”. The promotion session was chaired by Prof. Dr. dr. Sudarto Ronoatmodjo, S.K.M., M.Sc. The session was also attended by Prof. dr. Hadi Pratomo, MPH, Dr.PH.; Dr. dr. Hervita Diatri, Sp.K.J. (K) and Prof. dr. Kemal N. Siregar, S.K.M., M.A., Ph.D as co-promoters. The examination team consisted of Prof. Dr. Budi Anna Keliat, S.Kp., M.App.S.; Dr. dr. Didi Danukusumo, SpOG (K)-KFM, M.P.H.; Dr. Indra Supradewi, M.K.M., and Sherly Saragih Turnip, S.Psi., M.Phil., Ph.D..
Through her dissertation, Dewi developed an expert system-based screening system for anxiety and depression symptoms in pregnant women by utilizing the Edinburgh Postnatal Depression Scale (EPDS) instrument as a component of expert knowledge and personalized care for pregnant women. The background of this research is that Indonesia has included mental health as one of the components in antenatal care, but there is no related instrument that can screen anxiety and depression symptoms in pregnant women. The research consisted of three stages, namely the first stage to test the validity and reliability of the Indonesian version of the EPDS instrument, the second stage to assess the screening ability of EPDS with the MINI-International Neuropsychiatric Interview (MINI) instrument as a gold standard, and in the third stage to develop a prototype of an expert system-based anxiety and depression symptom screening system.
Dewi’s research concluded that the Indonesian version of the EPDS instrument proved to be valid and reliable with a good ability to screen anxiety and depression symptoms in pregnant women. The cut off value of anxiety and depression symptoms from the EPDS instrument is also proven to be further utilized to design a decision algorithm that is used as a transformation of expert knowledge in the expert system. In addition, the prototype of the expert system-based pregnancy anxiety and depression symptom screening system is considered to have feasibility and implement ability as one of the solutions for the implementation of the mental health component in antenatal care. This research can be further developed by testing the system prototype to the next level, involving more health facilities, developing the expert system further to increase effectiveness and efficiency, and developing the potential of the EPDS instrument on the 10th question to assess the risk of suicide in pregnant women based on scientific evidence research.
Based on the results of her dissertation, Dewi Nirmala Sari successfully graduated as a Doctor in the Field of Public Health Sciences. Dewi is the 9th graduate of Doctor of Public Health in 2022, the 263rd graduate of Doctor of Public Health , and the 339th graduate of Doctor of FPH UI. (WR)
