Screening for childhood mental health problems: outcomes and early identification

Abstract

Background Many childhood psychiatric problems are transient. Consequently, screening procedures to accurately identify children with problems unlikely to remit and thus, in need of intervention, are of major public health concern. This study aimed to develop a universal school-based screening procedure based on the answers to three questions: (1) What are the broad patterns of mental health problems from kindergarten to grade 5? (2) What are the grade 5 outcomes of these patterns? (3) How early in school can children likely to develop the most impairing patterns be identified accurately? Methods Mothers and teachers reported on a community sample (N=328) of children’s internalizing and externalizing symptoms in kindergarten and grades 1, 3, and 5. In grade 5, teachers reported on children’s school-based functional impairments, physical health problems, and service use; mothers reported on children’s specialty mental health care. Results Four patterns distinguished children who (1) never evidenced symptoms; (2) evidenced only isolated symptoms; or evidenced recurrent symptoms, either (3) without or (4) with comorbid internalizing and externalizing. By grade 5, children with recurrent comorbid symptoms had the greatest impairments, physical health problems, and service use. These children can be identified quite accurately by grade 1. Conclusions Universal screening at school entry can effectively identify children likely to develop recurrent comorbid symptoms, and would provide a basis for developing optimal targeted intervention programs.

Convergent, Criterion and Social Validity of the Emotional and Behavioral Screener

“…Further, students who demonstrate internalizing behaviors, such as depression, social withdrawal, and self-inflicted pain, may miss critical instructional time in the classroom (Morris et al 2002). Neglecting to identify and treat these externalizing and internalizing behaviors increases the chances these behaviors will continue to increase in intensity through the students' school career and the likelihood that these behaviors will continue into adulthood and result in added mental health disorders (Costello et al 2003;Essex et al 2009).…”

Prevalence of Aggressive Behavior among Children Co-Detained with Imprisoned Mothers in a Selected Prison of North India

“…It has been reported by Hagen KA et al that children with low levels of social support have more externalizing and internalizing problems [29]. It has been repeatedly reported in previous studies by Briggs-Gowan MJ et al and Essex MJ et al that young children with recurrent and comorbid aggressive behavior have the most impairment, greater problem stability and higher subsequent utilization of mental health services [30,31]. Therefore, co-detained children experiencing aggressive behavior demand special provisions and practices on the part of prison authority and government.…”

A Method for Universal Screening of Elementary School Students: Development of the Social Challenges Screening Questionnaire

“…Universal screening assesses all students systematically and can result in psychometrically sound detection of mental health problems in early childhood (e.g., Essex et al, 2009), which can reduce the number of at-risk students who may be overlooked. It leads to early identification of problems and provides a pathway to early intervention which reduces costs, as treatment of mild problems is often less intensive and less expensive than treatment for severe problems (Dowdy, Ritchey, & Kamphaus, 2010).…”