NASBHC's mission is to
improve the health status
of children and youth
by advancing and advocating
for school-based health care
1100 G Street, NW, Suite 735
Washington, DC 20005
Tel: (202) 638-5872
Fax: (202)638-5879
Email: info@nasbhc.org
Screening & Assessment
Comprehensive Risk Assessment
Screening for:
Resilience and Protective Factors
General-purpose mental health
Depression
Suicide
Anxiety
Behavioral Problems
Substance Use/Abuse
Additional Mental Health Assessment and Screening Resources
Comprehensive Risk Assessment
It is recommended that SBHC's conduct an annual comprehensive risk assessment that includes questions related to mental health. Below are comprehensive assessment tools frequently used in SBHC's:
1. The American Medical Association's Guidelines for Adolescent Preventive Services (GAPS) -- a comprehensive set of recommendations that were designed to be delivered as a preventive services package during a series of annual health visits between the ages of 11-21. GAPS implementation materials include downloadable PDF questionnaires that may be reproduced for use in clinical practice:
2. Bright Futures -- a national health promotion initiative dedicated to the principle that every child deserves to be healthy and that optimal health involves a trusting relationship between the health professional, the child, the family, and the community as partners in health practice. There is a range of tools, including: Bright Futures in Practice: Mental Health (2002), a two-volume set considering the mental health of children in a developmental context, presenting information on early recognition and intervention for specific mental health problems and mental disorders, and providing a tool kit with hands on tools for health professionals and families for use in screening, care management, and health education.
3. The Pediatric Symptom Checklist is a psychosocial screen designed to facilitate the recognition of cognitive, emotional, and behavioral problems so that appropriate interventions can be initiated as early as possible. Included here are two versions, the parent-completed version (PSC) and the youth self-report (Y-PSC). The Y-PSC can be administered to adolescents ages 11 and up. General information including directions for scoring, sources of studies for validating and using the PSC, and technical support can be found here.
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Pediatric Symptom Checklist - Parents Report (PSC)
-- This is a helpful tool for parents and guardians to complete to assist the SBHCs in assessing the child. It looks at the connection between emotional and physical health, is straightforward, and takes little time to complete. -
Pediatric Symptom Checklist -Spanish Version (PSC-Sp) -- This is a helpful tool for parents and guardians to complete to assist the SBHCs in assessing their child, translated into Spanish. It addresses the connection between emotional and physical health, straightforward, and takes little time to complete.
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Pediatric Symptom Checklist - Youth Report -- This is a checklist that is filled out by the student. The tool is designed to help the SBHCs get a more complete picture of the student, addressing the connection between emotional and physical health. Students may require some support in filling out the checklist, depending on their reading ability and other developmental issues.
4. The Child Health and Illness Profile (CHIP) is a validated, generic health status survey developed to assess the overall health and well-being of children and adolescents. The CHIP is self administered in less than 30 minutes. There is a CHIP Child Edition for children ages 6-11 and their parents and an Adolescent Edition for Adolescents ages 11-17.
5. HEADSS Interview for Adolescents -- This is an interview instrument for finding out about issues in adolescents' lives. It was developed by Cohen and colleagues (Cohen et al., 1991).
Screening for:
Resilience and Protective Factors
In addition to assessing for behavioral health risks, it is important to assess for Resilience and Protective Factors .
Search Institute's 40 Developmental Assets® are concrete, common sense, positive experiences and qualities essential to raising successful young people. These assets have the power during critical adolescent years to influence choices young people make and help them become caring, responsible adults. The assets checklists are a self-report of 40 developmental assets that help to identify qualities in youth that can be enhanced to promote resiliency. Asset checklists are available for adolescents, middle childhood and for early childhood and are available in English, Spanish and French.
General-purpose mental health screen
Diagnostic Predictive Scales (DPS) developed by the TeenScreen Program is a general-purpose screen used to identify youth with a mental health disorder. Results indicate the likelihood that a youth has a significant mental health problem; it is not a substitute for a clinical evaluation. The DPS is a 52-item, computerized interview that can be administered and scored by trained non-professionals and is available in English and Spanish. Youth simultaneously hears questions through headphones and reads them on the computer screen; then enters answers on computer. Designed for youth aged 9 to 18 years. A more comprehensive diagnostic interview is also available.
Depression
Center for Epidemiological Studies Depression Scale for Children (CES-DC) is a FREE 20-item self-report depression inventory used as initial screener and/or measure of treatment progress. Scores may indicate depressive symptoms in children and adolescents as well as significant levels of depression.
Suicide
The Columbia Health Screen (CHS),developed by the TeenScreen Program, is used as a screening tool for the risk factors of suicide and indicates only the likelihood that a youth is at risk for suicide or has significant mental health problem; it is not a substitute for a clinical evaluation. The CHS is a 14-item, self completion, paper-and-pencil questionnaire and can be administered and scored by trained non-professionals. The CHS usually takes 10 minutes to complete and has been used to screen youth from ages 11 to 18 and is available in English and Spanish. The instrument includes questions about depression, suicidal ideation and attempts, anxiety, alcohol and drug use, and general health problems.
Anxiety
The Spence Children's Anxiety Scale (SCAS) is a FREE 38 questions scale that measures overall anxiety. Parent and Child versions are available and are divided into six subscales, including:
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Panic attack/agoraphobia
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Separation anxiety
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Physical injury fears
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Social phobia
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Obsessive compulsive
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Generalized anxiety/overanxious disorder
Behavioral Problems
The Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire (SDQ) is a FREE 25-item brief behavioral screening questionnaire for 3-16 year olds. The SDQ is used as initial screener and/or measure of treatment progress. SDQ has both a self-report and a teacher report , including five subscales:
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Emotional symptoms
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Conduct Problems
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Hyperactivity/inattention
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Peer relationship problems
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Prosocial Behavior
Disruptive Behavior Disorders Rating Scale (DBD) is FREE and comes in a parent and a teacher version. The scale, based ion DSM criteria, identifies common behavior problems such as attention deficit disorder, attention deficit disorder with hyperactivity, oppositional disorders, and anti-social conduct problems in school children.
Substance Use/Abuse
CAGE is a FREE Alcohol and drug use screening instrument consisting of four items.
Personal Experience Inventory is a self-report inventory that documents the onset, nature, degree, and duration of chemical involvement in 12- to 18-year-olds. It consists of 56 items and is FREE!
CRAFFT is a brief alcohol and drug screening test known by its mnemonic and based on the first letter of keywords in the 6 easy-to-remember questions. Two or more yes answers suggest a significant problem and need for further assessment.
Global Assessment of Individual Needs (GAIN) is a comprehensive evidence-based assessment used with both adolescents and adults and in a variety of settings. The GAIN has eight core sections (Background, Substance Use, Physical Health, Risk Behaviors and Disease Prevention, Mental and Emotional Health, Environment and Living Situation, Legal, and Vocational) and observes the integration of substance abuse and co-occurring mental disorders. GAIN materials are available in hard copy and electronic forms. The GAIN can be administered by computer or with paper and pencil.
For additional Substance Abuse screening and assessment tools…
Alcohol and Drug Abuse Institute Substance Use Screening and Assessment Instruments Database is intended to help clinicians and researchers find instruments used for screening and assessment of substance use and substance use disorders. Some instruments are in the public domain and can be freely downloaded from the web; others can only be obtained from the copyright holder. Links to contact and availability information are included if known.
Additional Mental Health Assessment and Screening Resources
Risk and Protective Factors
Mental Health Screening
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Articles on screening high school students for suicide risk
Other tools can be found in UCLA's Mental Health in School's packet on "Screening and Assessing Students; Indicators and Tools"