Whooley questions

What?

The Whooley questions were originally published by Whooley et al. (1997) and
consists of a two-question questionnaire as a means to diagnose common mental
disorders in primary care (Whooley et al., 1997). The questions have come to be
commonly used in maternity care and its use is advocated by NICE (2018)
guidelines for identifying mental health problems in pregnancy and the postnatal
period. NICE (2018) advocates its use at the first antenatal appointment and further
suggests that health care professionals should consider their use at any point if felt
relevant. Referral to specialist mental health teams should be made once a mental
health problem is identified (NICE, 2018). A cross-sectional survey by Howard et al.,
(2018), found that it had high diagnostic accuracy in identifying a range mental
disorders, which is suited to groups such as pregnant asylum seekers who may
suffer from a range of mental health disorders such a depression and post-traumatic
stress disorder (Sioti et al., 2018). It has been suggested that how the questions are
asked has significance and that it is important that midwives don’t just ask them as a
box ticking exercise but rather as a means to opening up further discussion (Darwin
et al., 2015).

In addition, where cultural ideas about mental health issues may substantially differ,
the Whooley questions may allow for the recognition of previously untreated or
unidentified mental health issues (EVIDENCE).