Brief Mental Health Disorder Screening Questionnaires and Use with Public Safety Personnel: A Review

Abstract

Brief mental health disorder screening questionnaires (SQs) are used by psychiatrists, physicians, researchers, psychologists, and other mental health professionals and may provide an efficient method to guide clinicians to query symptom areas requiring further assessment. For example, annual screening has been used to help identify military personnel who may need help. Nearly half (44.5%) of Canadian public safety personnel (PSP) screen positive for one or more mental health disorder(s); as such, regular mental health screenings for PSP may be a valuable way to support mental health. The following review was conducted to (1) identify existing brief mental health disorder SQs; (2) review empirical evidence of the validity of identified SQs; (3) identify SQs validated within PSP populations; and (4) recommend appropriately validated brief screening questionnaires for five common mental health disorders (i.e., generalized anxiety disorder (GAD), major depressive depression (MDD), panic disorder, posttraumatic stress disorder, alcohol use disorder). After reviewing the psychometric properties of the identified brief screening questionnaires, we recommend the following four brief screening tools for use with PSP: the Patient Health Questionnaire-4 (screening for MDD and GAD), the Brief Panic Disorder Symptom Screen—Self-Report, the Short-Form Posttraumatic Checklist-5, and the Alcohol Use Disorders Identification Test-Consumption.

Exposure to risk and experiences of river flooding for people with disability and carers in rural Australia: a cross-sectional survey

“…Brief mental health disorder screening tools have useful applications and are widely used by clinicians and researchers as they provide an efficient method to query symptom areas requiring further assessment or research. 75 They are, however, not a substitute for full diagnostic criteria. 76 Therefore, this study must be viewed in the light that we used brief screening tools as opposed to a full clinical assessment.…”

“…To address this, we used validated screening tools and analysis techniques that allowed for an assessment of ongoing stress and anxiety related specifically to the flood event (as distinct from anxiety arising from other causes). Brief mental health disorder screening tools have useful applications and are widely used by clinicians and researchers as they provide an efficient method to query symptom areas requiring further assessment or research 75. They are, however, not a substitute for full diagnostic criteria 76.…”

Resilience-based Islamic program as a promising intervention on diabetes fatigue and health-related quality of life

“…The inclusion criteria of study participants were as follows: (1) must be compos mentis, (2) a Muslim to implement prayer and dhikr (the ritual formula of Sufi brotherhood recited devotionally in praise of Allah and as a means of attaining ecstatic experience [18]), (3) aged 18-64 years (young adults to older adults who can legally sign the informed concern) and diagnosed with T2DM, (4) with diabetes fatigue condition who have been screened using the Multidimensional Fatigue Inventory (MFI-20) questionnaire, (5) undergoing treatment for T2DM for at least 3 years; (6) ability to write and speak Bahasa (Indonesian national language) and Javanese (local language), and (7) willing and committed to participate in this research until completion. Respondents were excluded if they (1) experienced generalized anxiety disorder and major depressive disorder and have been screened using the Patient Health Questionnaire 4 [19,20], (2) had a hemoglobin level of <10 mg/dL, and (3) could not participate in the research process until completion. In the treatment group, during the intervention, seven of 50 respondents were lost to follow-up, and three discontinued (two worked in a different city and one moved to a different residence) from the study (Pucang Sewu = 20 respondents and Tanah Kalikedinding = 20 respondents).…”

Premarital mental health screening among the Saudi population

“…Mental health awareness has been increasing for several years, and research has shown the effects of mental health disorders on individuals’ lives. 6 …”