Universal Emotional Health Screening at the Middle School Transition

Abstract

This article describes the implementation of the Developmental Pathways Screening Program (DPSP) and an evaluation of program feasibility, acceptability, and yield. Using the Mood and Feelings Questionnaire (MFQ) and externalizing questions from the Youth Self Report (YSR; Achenbach, 2001), universal classroom-based emotional health screening was implemented with students as they began middle school. Of all sixth graders enrolled in four participating Seattle schools, 861 (83%) were screened. Students who screened positive for emotional distress (15% of students screened) received onsite structured clinical evaluations with children's mental health professionals. Seventy-one percent of students who were evaluated were found to be experiencing significant emotional distress, with 59% warranting referral to academic tutoring, school counselor, and/or community mental health services. Successful implementation of in-class screening was facilitated by strong collaboration between DPSP and school staff. Limitations of emotional health screening and the DPSP are discussed, and future steps are outlined.Recent research reveals that as many as 1 in 10 children suffer from a mental, behavioral, or learning problem that interferes with their ability to function effectively in school or in the community. Despite the evidence showing how critical good emotional health is to a child's development and academic success (Bearman, Jones, & Urdry 2003;Glied & Pine, 2002; annv@u.washington.edu . NIH Public Access NIH-PA Author ManuscriptNIH-PA Author Manuscript NIH-PA Author ManuscriptVander Stoep et al., 2000), a very low proportion of children with emotional disorders are identified and treated (Costello et al., 1996;Leaf et al., 1996). The President's New Freedom Commission Report promotes early screening for mental health problems and reduction of disparities in mental health services (National Mental Health Information Center, 2002).Schools have been called upon to play an aggressive role in early detection (Duncan, Forness, & Hartsough, 1995). Universal screening carried out in public school settings can reach large segments of the child population, including those who do not have health insurance or coverage for mental health treatment. Low-income and minority children are likely to attend public schools, are at increased risk of mental health conditions (McLeod & Shanahan, 1996;McLoyd, 1990), and may have little access to early identification and treatment (Surgeon General, 2000). Furthermore, adolescents are more prone to seek health care at school than in clinical settings (Adelman & Taylor, 1991), and the school environment is perceived by youth to be supportive of, and conducive to, frank disclosure and discussion (Shaffer & Gould, 2000 Some progress has been made in the development of school-based programs to detect and address emotional health problems (Reynolds & Coats, 1986 Program determines need for services by gathering mental health assessment data from teachers on all second-through fifth-grade stu...

Mental disorders and subsequent educational attainment in a US national sample

“…Support for school-based mental health services (Haynes, 2002) or dropout prevention programs (Prinz, Dumas, Smith, & Laughlin, 2000;Vander Stoep et al, 2005) that target the disorders identified here as potentially having a negative impact on educational attainment may be strategic public health investments because of the wide range of benefits of educational attainment across the adult life course. Projected educational attainment for 30 randomly selected respondents with at least one mental disorder prior to completing education ( ) compared to the average among respondents without a mental disorder ( )*.…”

The internalizing pathway to adolescent substance use disorders: Mediation by ruminative reflection and ruminative brooding

“…These schools are located in four distinct geographic and demographic areas within the city and together have a racial/ethnic distribution that is nearly identical to the total enrolled student population of the school district. Universal emotional health screening was carried out with sixth grade students at these schools in four consecutive years (2001–2004); details of the screening procedure have been described elsewhere (Vander Stoep, McCauley, Thompson, Kuo, & Herting, 2005). All study procedures were reviewed and approved by the University of Washington Human Subjects Review Board.…”

“…Students eligible for screening included sixth-graders who had a third-grade reading comprehension level or higher (for more details see Vander Stoep et al, 2005). A stratified random sample of 807 students was selected for longitudinal follow-up with students scoring high on depressive and/or conduct problem scores over-sampled according to a ratio of 1:1:1:2 from four psychopathology risk groups (comorbid depression and conduct problems: CM, depressive problems: DP, conduct problems: CP, neither conduct nor depressive problems: NE).…”

Developmental Consistency in Associations Between Depressive Symptoms and Alcohol Use in Early Adolescence

“…These schools are located in four distinct geographic and demographic areas within the city and together have a racial/ ethnic distribution that is nearly identical to the total enrolled student population of the school district. Universal emotional health screening was carried out with sixth-grade students at these schools in 4 consecutive years (2001)(2002)(2003)(2004); details of the screening procedure have been described elsewhere (Vander Stoep et al, 2005).…”