Documents Reviewed
The documents below were reviewed for Quality of Research. The research point of
contact can provide information regarding the studies reviewed and the availability
of additional materials, including those from more recent studies that may have been conducted.
Study 1
Scott, M. A., Maslow, C. B., Huo, Y., Turner, J. B., Fisher, P., & Shaffer, D. (2006). Screening in schools: Does it identify the walking well? Manuscript in preparation.
Scott, M. A., Wilcox, H. C., Schonfeld, I. S., Davies, M., Hicks, R. C., Turner, J. B., et al. (2006). The Columbia Suicide Screen: Does screening identify previously unknown teens at risk for suicide and other mental health problems? Manuscript in preparation.
Shaffer, D., Scott, M. A., Greenwald, S., Davies, M., Munfakh, J. L. H., & Restifo, K. (2006). The long-term outcome of teenagers who report suicidality during a high-school screen. Manuscript in preparation.
Study 2
Kaplan, A. M., Olfson, M., Chrostowski, C., McGuire, L., & Flynn, L. (2006). Examining the referral patterns of a youth mental health screening program. Manuscript submitted for publication.
Supplementary Materials
Kaplan, A. M., Olfson, M., Chrostowski, C., McGuire, L., & Flynn, L. (2005, October). Assessing the effectiveness of the Columbia University TeenScreen Program. Poster presented at the annual meeting of the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, Toronto, Canada.
Kaplan, A. M., Olfson, M., Chrostowski, C., McGuire, L., & Flynn, L. (2006, October). The evaluation of a school-based mental health screening program. Poster presented at the annual meeting of the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, San Diego, CA.
Kaplan, A. M., Olfson, M., Chrostowski, C., McGuire, L., & Flynn, L. (n.d.). Examining the characteristics of youth requesting help on a mental health screen. Manuscript in preparation.
Outcomes
| Outcome 1: Identification of youth need for mental health services |
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Description of Measures
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Youth need for mental health services was assessed using the Columbia Health Screen (CHS) or an earlier version of the instrument known as the Columbia Suicide Screen (CSS). Both questionnaires include items relating to depression, suicidal ideation and attempts, anxiety, substance use, and other health issues. The CSS's ability to identify youth need for mental health services was compared in one study with that of school professionals (administrative staff); in another study, it was compared with the ability of Student Assistance Program (SAP) professionals to identify students who should be referred for additional services, using subsets of student populations with virtually identical referral rates.
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Key Findings
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In one study, school professionals failed to identify 29.4% of youth who were identified as being at risk during the mental health screening using the CSS. In another study, the TeenScreen process resulted in a significantly larger number of referrals for mental health services compared with the observations of SAP professionals (14% vs. 1%, p < .001).
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Studies Measuring Outcome
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Study 1, Study 2
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Study Designs
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Experimental, Preexperimental
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Quality of Research Rating
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2.5
(0.0-4.0 scale)
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Study Populations
The following populations were identified in the studies reviewed for Quality of
Research.
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Study
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Age
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Gender
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Race/Ethnicity
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Study 1
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13-17 (Adolescent)
18-25 (Young adult)
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60.1% Female
39.9% Male
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42.1% White
25.4% Black or African American
18.9% Hispanic or Latino
13.6% Race/ethnicity unspecified
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Study 2
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13-17 (Adolescent)
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52.3% Female
47.7% Male
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60.4% White
28.5% Black or African American
5.8% Race/ethnicity unspecified
5.2% Hispanic or Latino
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Quality of Research Ratings by Criteria (0.0-4.0 scale)
External reviewers independently evaluate the Quality of Research for an intervention's
reported results using six criteria:
For more information about these criteria and the meaning of the ratings, see Quality of Research.
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Outcome
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Reliability
of Measures
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Validity
of Measures
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Fidelity
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Missing
Data/Attrition
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Confounding
Variables
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Data
Analysis
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Overall
Rating
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1: Identification of youth need for mental health services
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2.0
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3.8
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1.0
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3.3
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2.3
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2.5
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2.5
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Study Strengths
The protocol includes a well-developed screening instrument, a screening algorithm, quality assurance forms, and very detailed implementation and training manuals. Reliability tests of measures were considered acceptable.
Study Weaknesses
A weakness of the studies is that a convenience sample was used with only a 67% participation rate. Therefore, results may reflect selection bias. Students identified by CSS were compared with those identified by school informants. However, the principal in each school selected the informants who completed the questionnaires, which may have introduced bias.
Some schools had fewer informants than others and therefore may not have been able to identify as many at-risk students. Although narrative evidence and fidelity evaluation materials are presented, evidence of any systematic collection of data is lacking. Analyses did not sufficiently address attrition and small sample sizes.
