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Key Facts about Mental Health Screening and the TeenScreen Schools and Communities Program

Mental Health Screening for Youth is Effective for Early Identification of Adolescent Mental Health Problems


U.S. Preventive Services Task Force
The U.S. Preventive Services Task Force published a report in March 2009 calling for annual depression screening for all 12-18 year olds in primary care settings. This recommendation was based on the task force’s finding that screening questionnaires effectively identify depression in adolescents and that available treatments are effective for this population.1

Institute of Medicine
In February 2009, the National Research Council and Institute of Medicine published a report, Preventing Mental, Emotional, and Behavioral Disorders Among Youth People, which called for evidence-based mental health screening for adolescents in school, community and primary care settings.2

U.S. Surgeon General
Two reports from former U.S. Surgeon General, David Satcher, M.D., Ph.D., highlighted mental health screening as an effective method of youth suicide prevention.3,4

President’s New Freedom Commission on Mental Health
A 2003 report from the President’s New Freedom Commission on Mental Health included early mental health screening as one of six mental health goals for the nation and placed a high priority on the implementation of voluntary school-based screening programs.5

TeenScreen Schools and Communities is an Effective Program

We know that TeenScreen is effective because it accurately identifies youth who are suffering from mental illness or are at risk of suicide, most of whom would not be identified otherwise.  

TeenScreen is Evidence-Based
  • TeenScreen is included in the National Registry of Evidence-based Programs and Practices (NREPP), a service of the federal government’s Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA).6
  • TeenScreen is listed in the Best Practices Registry for Suicide Prevention, a collaboration between the Suicide Prevention Resource Center and the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention.7
  • The 2003 report from the President’s New Freedom Commission on Mental Health recognized TeenScreen as a model program.5
TeenScreen Research Outcomes
TeenScreen accurately identifies youth who are suffering from mental illness or are at risk of suicide, most of whom would not be identified otherwise.
  • A study of TeenScreen’s implementation in a school setting found that early detection of risk factors through screening can result in earlier treatment and the avoidance of a suicidal crisis.8
  • Teens who are at risk for suicide or are experiencing depression, anxiety, and drug or alcohol abuse at the time of screening are accurately identified through the screening process.9
  • TeenScreen improves identification of teens at the highest risk for suicide and also improves the identification of teens with other significant mental health problems.10 
    • Among teens with recent suicidal ideation or history of suicide attempt, 40% were identified via screening only in contrast to 9% identified by school staff only.  
    • Screening identified 100% of teens in the high-risk subgroup (suicide ideation or suicide attempt and current mood, anxiety or substance use disorder). 
    • Almost 60% of teens with internalizing disorders only who were missed by school professionals were identified through screening.
  • TeenScreen effectively links at-risk youth to mental health services.11
    • A study of a school-based TeenScreen program in the Midwest found that 74% of screen positive youth who were referred for mental health services attended one or more appointments and 61% completed the recommended treatment. 
    • A study of a school-based TeenScreen program in an urban school district serving predominantly African American youth found that 70% of identified youth were successfully linked to a mental health service provider.8
  • Only 1.6% of suicidal teens identified by TeenScreen who also meet criteria for a clinical diagnosis are already in treatment with a mental health professional.12

Screening is Safe

A study published in the Journal of the American Medical Association showed that mental health screening and directly asking youth if they are thinking about suicide or have made a prior suicide attempt does not put the idea of committing suicide in their heads, increase suicidal ideation, or create distress.13
  • Teens who participate in screening do not have higher distress levels than teens who do not participate.
  • Screening participants do not have higher rates of depressive symptoms than non-participants.
  • Screening participants are not more likely to report suicidal ideation after completing the screening.
  • Depressed teens and previous suicide attempters who are screened are less distressed and suicidal than depressed teens and previous suicide attempters post screening.

References

1 U.S. Preventive Services Task Force. Screening and Treatment for Major Depressive Disorder in Children and Adolescents: Recommendation Statement. AHRQ Publication No. 09-05130-EF-2, March 2009. Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality, Rockville, MD. Available at: http://www.ahrq.gov/clinic/uspstf09/depression/chdeprrs.htm.

2 The National Research Council and the Institute of Medicine of the National Academies. (2009). Preventing mental, emotional and behavioral disorders among young people: Progress and possibilities. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press.

3  U.S. Surgeon General (1999). Mental Health: A Report of the Surgeon General. Rockville, MD: U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration, Center for Mental Health Services, National Institutes of Health, National Institute of Mental Health.

4 U.S. Public Health Service (2000). Report of the Surgeon General’s Conference on Children’s Mental Health: A National Action Agenda. Washington, DC:  Department of Health and Human Services.

5 New Freedom Commission on Mental Health, Achieving the Promise: Transforming Mental Health Care in America. Final Report. DHHS Pub. No. SMA-03-3832. Rockville, MD: 2003. 

6 Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (2007).  Available at: http://www.nrepp.samhsa.gov/programfulldetails.asp?PROGRAM_ID=108.

7 SPRC/AFSP Evidence-Based Practices Project (2007). Available at: http://www.sprc.org/featured_resources/bpr//ebpp.asp.

8 Brown, M. M., & Goldstein Grumet, J. (2009). School-based suicide prevention with African American youth in an urban setting. Professional Psychology: Research and Practice, 40(2), 111-117.

9 Shaffer D., Scott M, Wilcox H, Maslow C, Hicks R, Lucas C, Garfinkel R, Greenwald S. (2004). The Columbia Suicide Screen: Validity and Reliability of a Screen for Youth Suicide and Depression. Journal of the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry; 43(1):71-79.

10 Scott, M.A., Wilcox, H.C., Schonfeld, S., Davies, M., Hicks, R.C., Turner, J.B., Shaffer, D. (2008). School-based screening to identify at-risk students not already known to school professionals: The Columbia Suicide Screen. American Journal of Public Health, 99 (2), 1-6.

11 Husky MM, McGuire L, Flynn L, Olfson M. Referral completion after youth mental health screening. Poster presented at the 20th NIH Conference on Mental Health Services Research, Washington D.C., July 20-21, 2009.

12 Scott M and Shaffer D. (2004). The Columbia Suicide Screen: Does screening identify new teens at risk?  Poster presented at the annual meeting of the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry; Washington, DC.

13 Gould M, Marrocco F, Kleinman M, Thomas J, Mostkoff K, Cote J, Davies M. (2005). Evaluating iatrogenic risk of youth suicide screening programs: A randomized controlled trial. Journal of the American Medical Association; 293: 1635-1643.