The Electronic Mental Wellness Tool as a Self-Administered Brief Screening Instrument for Mental Disorders in the General Spanish Population during the Post-COVID-19 Era

Abstract

(1) Background: In the “post-COVID-19 era”, there is a need to focus on properly assessing and addressing the extent of its well-established mental health collateral damage. The “Electronic Mental Wellness Tool” (E-mwTool) is a 13-item validated stepped-care or stratified management instrument that aims at the high-sensitivity captures of individuals with mental health disorders to determine the need for mental health care. This study validated the E-mwTool in a Spanish-speaking population. (2) Methods: It is a cross-sectional validation study using the Mini International Neuropsychiatric Interview as a criterion standard in a sample of 433 participants. (3) Results: About 72% of the sample had a psychiatric disorder, and 67% had a common mental disorder. Severe mental disorders, alcohol use disorders, substance use disorders, and suicide risk had a much lower prevalence rate (6.7%, 6.2%, 3.2%, and 6.2%, respectively). The first three items performed excellently in identifying any mental health disorder with 0.97 sensitivity. Ten additional items classified participants with common mental disorders, severe mental disorders, substance use disorders, and suicide risk. (4) Conclusions: The E-mwTool had high sensitivity in identifying common mental disorders, alcohol and substance use disorders, and suicidal risk. However, the tool’s sensitivity in detecting low-prevalence disorders in the sample was low. This Spanish version may be useful to detect patients at risk of mental health burden at the front line of primary and secondary care in facilitating help-seeking and referral by their physicians.

World Mental Health Day 2023: We must leave no one behind in the response to HIV and mental health

“…The e‐mwTool leverages technology‐based community screening to detect and provide measurement‐based care for mental disorders using GPS coordinates, supports facility‐ and community‐level implementation of task‐shared evidence‐based interventions with rigour and tracks intervention implementation and clinical outcomes 16–18 . The e‐mwTool has global relevance and has been validated and is being implemented in other settings as well 19,20 . A research training program in Cambodia, Malaysia, the Philippines and Thailand, nested in the International Epidemiology Databases to Evaluate AIDS (IeDEA Asia‐Pacific), is building local and regional capacity to effectively implement integrated HIV‐mental health care strategies using implementation science methods, supporting the adaptation of the e‐mwTool to the region.…”

“… 16 , 17 , 18 The e‐mwTool has global relevance and has been validated and is being implemented in other settings as well. 19 , 20 A research training program in Cambodia, Malaysia, the Philippines and Thailand, nested in the International Epidemiology Databases to Evaluate AIDS (IeDEA Asia‐Pacific), is building local and regional capacity to effectively implement integrated HIV‐mental health care strategies using implementation science methods, supporting the adaptation of the e‐mwTool to the region. Ongoing research in South Africa highlights another example of collaborative work aimed at understanding the effectiveness of mental health services within integrated care.…”