Developing a Mental Health Screening Questionnaire in an Asian Children's Hospital Emergency Setting

Author:

Ang Siok Hoon1,Tan Juliet Sher Kit2,Lee Jia Hui1,Marimuttu Vicknesan Jeyan3,Lim Xin Yi4,Teo Lois Ling'en5,Edward Shannon Natasha6,Teo Mavis6,Lim Joyce Soo Ting7,Ganapathy Sashikumar1,Ang Angelina Su Yin1

Affiliation:

1. Department of Paediatric Emergency Medicine, KK Women's and Children's Hospital (KKH), Singapore

2. Adolescent Medicine Service, Department of Paediatric Medicine, KKH, Singapore

3. Child & Adolescent Mental Wellness Service, Department of Psychological Medicine, KKH, Singapore

4. Psychosocial Trauma Support Service (PTSS), KKH, Singapore

5. Psychology Service, KKH, Singapore

6. Medical Social Worker Department, KKH, Singapore

7. Nursing Clinical Service, Division of Nursing, KKH, Singapore.

Abstract

Introduction Mental health concerns among adolescents are increasingly prevalent, yet underrecognized. Adolescents with psychological distress often present to the emergency department (ED) with somatic symptoms. Due to inadequate time for rapport building and lack of familiarity of ED clinicians with psychosocial evaluation, these concerns often get missed. We describe the development and implementation of the Youth Well Being (YWB) questionnaire, a self-administered psychosocial screening tool that aims to overcome the communication barriers to psychosocial evaluation. Methods A multidisciplinary team used a Delphi-like approach to develop the questionnaire, using the home, education, activities/peers, drugs/alcohol, suicidality, emotions/behavior, discharge resources (HEADS-ED) questionnaire as the main reference. Modifications were made based on panel members' clinical experience and adapted to suit local sociocultural context. The YWB questionnaire is administered to adolescents aged 10 to 19 years presenting to the KK Women's and Children's Hospital ED with possible psychosomatic symptoms and behavioral or mental health issues. Positive findings prompt further targeted face-to-face interviews by the clinicians to facilitate appropriate psychosocial referral. Results The 9 domains in the YWB questionnaire explore potential psychosocial difficulties that affect the adolescent's well-being and aim to uncover potential issues that could account for the adolescent's symptoms. We discuss the rationale behind the questions and response options in the YWB questionnaire. Conclusions The YWB questionnaire is the first initiative in Singapore to enable efficient psychosocial screening of at-risk adolescents in the ED. This communication tool can potentially be used in other health care settings to enable early recognition and intervention for adolescents distressed by psychosocial problems.

Publisher

Ovid Technologies (Wolters Kluwer Health)

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