Development of the South Sudan Mental Health Assessment Scale

This study developed and validated a measure that captures variation in common local idioms of distress and mental health problems experienced by women in South Sudan, a country which has experienced over 50 years of violence, displacement, and political, social, and economic insecurity. This measure was developed during a randomized controlled trial of the Adolescent Girls Initiative (AGI) and used qualitative Free Listing (n = 102) and Key Informant interviews (n = 27). Internal reliability and convergent validity were assessed using data from 3,137 randomly selected women (ages 14–47) in 100 communities in South Sudan. Test-retest and inter-rater reliability were assessed using responses from 180 women (ages 15–58) who completed the measure once, and 129 of whom repeated the measure an average of 12 days (SD = 8.3) later. Concurrent validity was assessed through the ratings of 22 AGI leaders about the presence or absence of mental health symptoms in the 180 women in the test-retest sample. The study resulted in the development of the South Sudan Mental Health Assessment Scale, a 24-item measure assessing six idioms of distress. The scale consisted of one factor and had excellent internal, test-retest, and interrater reliability. The scale also demonstrated good convergent and concurrent validity and performed well psychometrically. Moreover, its development provides an example for other organizations, working in environments where mental health measures have not yet been developed and validated, to create and validate measures relevant to their populations. In this way, the role of mental health in development settings can be more rapidly assessed.

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Comparative Analysis Research of Occupational Mental Health Assessment Scale

10.1007/978-981-16-5963-8_21 ◽

2021 ◽

pp. 148-154

Author(s):

Zhongxi Guan ◽

Yanqiu Sun ◽

Jianwu Chen ◽

Jiexiong Zhou ◽

Bin Yang ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Mental Health ◽

Comparative Analysis ◽

Health Assessment ◽

Assessment Scale ◽

Mental Health Assessment

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Mental health

Oxford Handbook of General Practice ◽

10.1093/med/9780199671038.003.0027 ◽

2014 ◽

pp. 985-1018

Author(s):

Chantal Simon ◽

Hazel Everitt ◽

Françoise van Dorp ◽

Matt Burkes

Keyword(s):

Mental Health ◽

Primary Care ◽

Eating Disorders ◽

Chronic Stress ◽

Mental Health Problems ◽

Health Assessment ◽

Psychological Conditions ◽

Mental Health Assessment ◽

Psychological Therapies ◽

Symptoms And Signs

Mental health assessment Mental health symptoms and signs Psychological therapies Anxiety Other anxiety-type disorders Chronic stress Depression Drugs for treating depression Psychosis Schizophrenia and mania Acute delirium Dementia Eating disorders Other psychological conditions Assessing a patient with mental health problems in primary care can be challenging. Aims (may need >1 appointment to achieve):...

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Interviews with children about their mental health problems: The congruence and validity of information that children report

Clinical Child Psychology and Psychiatry ◽

10.1177/1359104516653642 ◽

2016 ◽

Vol 22 (2) ◽

pp. 229-244 ◽

Cited By ~ 5

Author(s):

Emily Macleod ◽

June Woolford ◽

Linda Hobbs ◽

Julien Gross ◽

Harlene Hayne ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Mental Health ◽

Mental Health Problems ◽

Health Assessment ◽

Clinical Information ◽

Relevant Information ◽

Structured Interview ◽

Presenting Problems ◽

Psychological Assessments ◽

Mental Health Assessment ◽

Clinical Diagnoses

To obtain a child’s perspective during a mental health assessment, he or she is usually interviewed. Although researchers and clinicians generally agree that it is beneficial to hear a child’s account of his or her presenting issues, there is debate about whether children provide reliable or valid clinical information during these interviews. Here, we examined whether children provide clinically and diagnostically relevant information in a clinical setting. In all, 31 children aged 5–12-years undergoing mental health assessments were asked open-ended questions about their presenting problems during a semi-structured interview. We coded the information that children reported to determine whether it was clinically relevant and could be used to diagnose their problems and to formulate and plan treatment. We also coded children’s information to determine whether it was congruent with the children’s presenting problems and their eventual clinical diagnoses. Most of the information that children reported was clinically relevant and included information about behaviour, affect, temporal details, thoughts, people, the environment, and the child’s physical experiences. The information that children reported was also clinically valid; it was congruent with the problems that were discussed (84%) and also with the eventual diagnosis that the child received after a complete assessment (74%). We conclude that children can contribute relevant, clinically useful, valid information during clinical psychological assessments.

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Testing the Validity of the Recovery Assessment Scale Using an Australian Sample

Australian & New Zealand Journal of Psychiatry ◽

10.1080/00048670701264792 ◽

2007 ◽

Vol 41 (5) ◽

pp. 450-457 ◽

Cited By ~ 63

Author(s):

Mandy McNaught ◽

Peter Caputi ◽

Lindsay G. Oades ◽

Frank P. Deane

Keyword(s):

Mental Health ◽

Concurrent Validity ◽

Convergent Validity ◽

Assessment Scale ◽

Self Report ◽

Internal Reliability ◽

Confirmatory Factor Analyses ◽

Health Measures ◽

Recovery Assessment ◽

Recovery Assessment Scale

Objective: Mental health services in Australia are increasingly becoming recovery orientated. However, there are varying meanings for recovery and few measures that specifically target recovery outcomes. The current study aimed to assess the construct and concurrent validity of a patient self-report measure, the Recovery Assessment Scale (RAS). Method: Participants were 168 individuals with severe and persistent psychiatric disability who were participants in the Australian Integrated Mental Health Initiative (AIMhi) project. They completed self-report recovery and other mental health measures and their case workers completed the Health of the Nation Outcome Scales. Exploratory and confirmatory factor analyses were carried out to examine the factor structure of the RAS. Results: Exploratory factor analysis of the RAS produced five factors that were replicated using confirmatory techniques. Each factor has satisfactory internal reliability (Cronbach α range = 0.73–0.91). The factors displayed convergent validity with positive and significant correlations with other recovery measures. Concurrent validity was demonstrated with significant but lower correlations with symptoms and clinician-rated measures of psychiatric functioning. Conclusion: The factors of the RAS are consistent with the consumer literature on recovery. Correlations with other variable suggest that the RAS is measuring something different from traditional symptom or functional mental health measures. Further research is needed to clarify the extent to which the RAS is able to capture the range of recovery experiences that have been described by patients.

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The Forensic Supplement to the interRAI Mental Health Assessment Instrument: Evaluation and Validation of the Problem Behavior Scale

Frontiers in Psychiatry ◽

10.3389/fpsyt.2021.769034 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 12 ◽

Author(s):

Howard E. Barbaree ◽

Krista Mathias ◽

Brant E. Fries ◽

Greg P. Brown ◽

Shannon L. Stewart ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Mental Health ◽

Convergent Validity ◽

Age Groups ◽

Health Assessment ◽

Patient Experiences ◽

Forensic Mental Health ◽

Mental Health Assessment ◽

Correctional Settings ◽

Behavior Scale ◽

Forensic Risk

Background: Numerous validation studies support the use of the interRAI Mental Health (MH) assessment system for inpatient mental health assessment, triage, treatment planning, and outcome measurement. However, there have been suggestions that the interRAI MH does not include sufficient content relevant to forensic mental health. We address this potential deficiency through the development of a Forensic Supplement (FS) to the interRAI MH system. Using three forensic risk assessment instruments (PCL-R; HCR-20; VRAG) that had a record of independent cross validation in the forensic literature, we identified forensic content domains that were missing in the interRAI MH. We then independently developed items to provide forensic coverage. The resulting FS is a single-page, 19-item supplementary document that can be scored along with the interRAI MH, adding approximately 10–15 min to administration time.We constructed the Problem Behavior Scale (PBS) using 11 items from the interRAI MH and FS. The Developmental Sample, 168 forensic mental health inpatients from two large mental health specialty hospitals, was assessed with both an earlier version of the interRAI MH and FS. This sample also provided us access to scores on the PCL-R, the HCR-20 and the VRAG. To validate our initial findings, we sought additional samples where scoring of the interRAI MH and the FS had been done. The first, the Forensic Sample (N = 587), consisted of forensic inpatients in other mental health units/hospitals. The second, the Correctional Sample (N = 618) was a random, representative sample of inmates in prisons, and the third, the Youth Sample (N = 90) comprised a group of youth in police custody.Results: The PBS ranged from 0 to 11, was positively skewed with most scores below 3, and had good internal consistency (Cronbach's Alpha = 0.80). In a test of concurrent validity, correlations between PBS scores and forensic risk scores were moderate to high (i.e., r with PCL-R Factor two of 0.317; with HCR-20 Clinical of 0.46; and with HCR-20 Risk of 0.39). In a test of convergent validity, we used Binary Logistic Regression to demonstrate that the PBS was related to three negative patient experiences (recent verbal abuse, use of a seclusion room, and failure to attain an unaccompanied leave). For each of these three samples, we conducted the same convergent validity statistical analyses as we had for the Developmental Sample and the earlier findings were replicated. Finally, we examined the relationship between PBS scores and care planning triggers, part of the interRAI systems Clinical Assessment Protocols (CAPs). In all three validity samples, the PBS was significantly related to the following CAPs being triggered: Harm to Others, Interpersonal Conflict, Traumatic Life Events, and Control Interventions. These additional validations generalize our findings across age groups (adult, youth) and across health care and correctional settings.Conclusions: The FS improves the interRAI MH's ability to identify risk for negative patient experiences and assess clinical needs in hospitalized/incarcerated forensic patients. These results generalize across age groups and across health care and correctional settings.

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Pre-school Mental Health Assessment Scale

The Child and the Institution ◽

10.3138/9781487595395-021 ◽

1966 ◽

pp. 155-162

Keyword(s):

Mental Health ◽

School Mental Health ◽

Health Assessment ◽

Assessment Scale ◽

Mental Health Assessment

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Mental Health Assessment of the Frequent Visitors in the School Setting—Part 1: An Overview

NASN School Nurse ◽

10.1177/1942602x21996442 ◽

2021 ◽

pp. 1942602X2199644

Author(s):

Tracy Perron ◽

Tami Jakubowski ◽

Cathy Razzi ◽

Connie Kartoz

Keyword(s):

Mental Health ◽

Mental Health Problems ◽

School Setting ◽

Health Assessment ◽

Signs And Symptoms ◽

Health Problems ◽

School Nurses ◽

Screening Tools ◽

Therapeutic Interventions ◽

Mental Health Assessment

School nurses manage children with mental health problems on a routine basis. However, many school nurses report having had limited to no training in assessment, recognizing signs and symptoms, or therapeutic interventions for mental health problems in children in their educational programs. This article is Part 1 of a two-part series. Part 1 will provide a background of common mental health conditions, common symptoms, underlying complaints, along with helpful resources for multiple audiences. Part 2 will continue with a focus on mental health assessment in the school setting, including the use of screening tools with a review of the most common medications prescribed for youth with anxiety and depression.

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