Mental HealthUse of a Brief Standardized Screening Instrument in a Primary Care Setting to Enhance Detection of Social-Emotional Problems Among Youth in Foster Care
Section snippets
Setting
Starlight Pediatrics is a general pediatric practice, and pediatric medical home that has been providing primary care for all children and adolescents in family-based foster care in Monroe County, New York (700 children, 3400 visits per year), for nearly 2 decades.
Mental Health Screening Instrument
The SDQ is a validated, 25-item, 1-page behavioral assessment tool available in parent and youth versions for ages 11 to 17 years.16 The questionnaire includes 5 domains: Emotional Problems, Conduct Problems,
Objective 1: Feasibility of Social-Emotional Screening (Screened Cohort)
Altogether 215 youths had a well-child visit during the time period; 3 were ineligible for screening as a result of severe developmental delay. Among the 212 youths eligible for screening, SDQ forms were completed for 195 individuals (92%). We examined charts for these patients. This included 154 forms completed by both youth and parent; 36 by youth only; and 5 by parents only. During the routine health visit, the SDQ took less than 5 minutes to complete, and was usually completed while the
Discussion
This study demonstrated that implementing a standardized, validated screener to detect socioemotional problems for youths in foster care is feasible. The very high (92%) completion rate for the SDQ was probably attributable to (1) the brevity of the instrument; (2) ability of parents and youths to complete the screening while waiting for the provider; (3) staff commitment to the screening process.
The most striking finding in our study was the doubling of the detection rate of social-emotional
Acknowledgment
This work was supported by the Robert Wood Johnson Physician Faculty Scholars Program (SHJ). We thank Claire Ovenshire, RN, for technical assistance with the database and the parents and children at Starlight Pediatrics.
References (25)
- et al.
Primary care clinicians’ use of standardized tools to assess child psychosocial problems
Ambul Pediatr
(2003) - et al.
Learning difficulties among children separated from a parent
Ambul Pediatr
(2008) - et al.
Prevalence of psychiatric disorders among older youths in the foster care system
J Am Acad Child Adolesc Psychiatry
(2005) - et al.
Electronic media use and adolescent health and well-being: cross-sectional community study
Acad Pediatr
(2009) - The President’s New Freedom Commission on Mental Health, Final Report. July 2002. Available at:...
- et al.
Screening for behavioral health problems in primary care
Curr Opin Pediatr
(2006) - et al.
Brief psychosocial screening at health supervision and acute care visits
Pediatrics
(2003) - et al.
Use of the Pediatric Symptom Checklist to screen for psychosocial problems in pediatric primary care: a national feasibility study
Arch Pediatr Adolesc Med
(1999) - et al.
Use of a psychosocial screen to detect children with symptoms of posttraumatic stress disorder: an exploratory study
Ambul Pediatrics
(2008) - et al.
Factors associated with chronic conditions among children in foster care
J Health Care Poor Underserved
(2006)
Addressing the developmental and mental health needs of young children in foster care
J Dev Behav Pediatr
Emergency department utilization by children in foster care
Ambul Pediatr
Cited by (0)
The authors have no conflicts of interest to disclose.