scholarly journals Repeated Psychosocial Screening of High School Students Using YouthCHAT: Cohort Study

10.2196/20976 ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 3 (2) ◽  
pp. e20976
Author(s):  
Hiran Thabrew ◽  
Harshali Kumar ◽  
Mary Goldfinch ◽  
Alana Cavadino ◽  
Felicity Goodyear-Smith

Background Psychosocial problems are common during adolescence and can have long-lasting effects on health and on academic and social functioning. YouthCHAT, an electronic HEEADSSS (home, education, eating, activities, drugs and alcohol, suicide and depression, sexuality and safety)-aligned instrument, has recently been demonstrated to be an acceptable and effective school-based psychosocial screener for 13-year-old (Year 9) high school students. Objective This study aims to compare acceptability and detection rates with repeated YouthCHAT screenings of high school students when they are 13 years old (Year 9) and 14 years old (Year 10). Methods We invited all Year-10 students to complete a YouthCHAT screening in 2018. Rates of positively identified issues were compared between the subset of students screened in both 2017 and 2018. Student acceptability toward YouthCHAT was investigated through focus group sessions. Onward clinical referral rates in 2018 were also investigated to explore the potential referral burden following screening. Data analysis for rates of positively identified issues were conducted with the McNemar test. Chi-square, Fisher exact test, and Kruskal-Wallis test were used to analyze the focus group data. Results Of 141 eligible Year-10 students, 114 (81%) completed a YouthCHAT screening during 2018, and 97 (85%) of them completed it for a second time. Apart from depression, which increased (P=.002), and perceived life stress, which decreased (P=.04), rates of identified issues were broadly similar between 13 and 14 years of age. Repeated screenings via YouthCHAT was acceptable to students and time-efficient (mean, 6 minutes and 32 seconds) but did not reduce the overall number of individuals with identified issues. Onward clinical referrals from positive screens were mostly managed by school-based health services without the need for external referrals. Conclusions Although further evaluation is needed, our results support the value of YouthCHAT as an acceptable and effective instrument with which to achieve routine identification of psychosocial issues and early intervention within a high school environment.

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Hiran Thabrew ◽  
Harshali Kumar ◽  
Mary Goldfinch ◽  
Alana Cavadino ◽  
Felicity Goodyear-Smith

BACKGROUND Psychosocial problems are common during adolescence and can have long-lasting effects on health and on academic and social functioning. YouthCHAT, an electronic HEEADSSS (home, education, eating, activities, drugs and alcohol, suicide and depression, sexuality and safety)-aligned instrument, has recently been demonstrated to be an acceptable and effective school-based psychosocial screener for 13-year-old (Year 9) high school students. OBJECTIVE This study aims to compare acceptability and detection rates with repeated YouthCHAT screenings of high school students when they are 13 years old (Year 9) and 14 years old (Year 10). METHODS We invited all Year-10 students to complete a YouthCHAT screening in 2018. Rates of positively identified issues were compared between the subset of students screened in both 2017 and 2018. Student acceptability toward YouthCHAT was investigated through focus group sessions. Onward clinical referral rates in 2018 were also investigated to explore the potential referral burden following screening. Data analysis for rates of positively identified issues were conducted with the McNemar test. Chi-square, Fisher exact test, and Kruskal-Wallis test were used to analyze the focus group data. RESULTS Of 141 eligible Year-10 students, 114 (81%) completed a YouthCHAT screening during 2018, and 97 (85%) of them completed it for a second time. Apart from depression, which increased (<i>P</i>=.002), and perceived life stress, which decreased (<i>P</i>=.04), rates of identified issues were broadly similar between 13 and 14 years of age. Repeated screenings via YouthCHAT was acceptable to students and time-efficient (mean, 6 minutes and 32 seconds) but did not reduce the overall number of individuals with identified issues. Onward clinical referrals from positive screens were mostly managed by school-based health services without the need for external referrals. CONCLUSIONS Although further evaluation is needed, our results support the value of YouthCHAT as an acceptable and effective instrument with which to achieve routine identification of psychosocial issues and early intervention within a high school environment.


Author(s):  
Hiran Thabrew ◽  
Simona D'Silva ◽  
Margot Darragh ◽  
Mary Goldfinch ◽  
Jake Meads ◽  
...  

BACKGROUND Psychosocial problems such as depression, anxiety, and substance abuse are common and burdensome in young people. In New Zealand, screening for such problems is undertaken routinely only with year 9 students in low-decile schools and opportunistically in pediatric settings using a nonvalidated and time-consuming clinician-administered Home, Education, Eating, Activities, Drugs and Alcohol, Sexuality, Suicide and Depression, Safety (HEEADSSS) interview. The Youth version, Case-finding and Help Assessment Tool (YouthCHAT) is a relatively new, locally developed, electronic tablet–based composite screener for identifying similar psychosocial issues to HEEADSSS OBJECTIVE This study aimed to compare the performance and acceptability of YouthCHAT with face-to-face HEEADSSS assessment among 13-year-old high school students. METHODS A counterbalanced randomized trial of YouthCHAT screening either before or after face-to-face HEEADSSS assessment was undertaken with 129 13-year-old New Zealand high school students of predominantly Māori and Pacific Island ethnicity. Main outcome measures were comparability of YouthCHAT and HEEADSSS completion times, detection rates, and acceptability to students and school nurses. RESULTS YouthCHAT screening was more than twice as fast as HEEADSSS assessment (mean 8.57 min vs mean 17.22 min; mean difference 8 min 25 seconds [range 6 min 20 seconds to 11 min 10 seconds]; <italic>P</italic>&lt;.01) and detected more issues overall on comparable domains. For substance misuse and problems at home, both instruments were roughly comparable. YouthCHAT detected significantly more problems with eating or body image perception (70/110, 63.6% vs 25/110, 22.7%; <italic>P</italic>&lt;.01), sexual health (24/110, 21.8% vs 10/110, 9.1%; <italic>P</italic>=.01), safety (65/110, 59.1% vs 17/110, 15.5%; <italic>P</italic>&lt;.01), and physical inactivity (43/110, 39.1% vs 21/110, 19.1%; <italic>P</italic>&lt;.01). HEEADSSS had a greater rate of detection for a broader set of mental health issues (30/110, 27%) than YouthCHAT (11/110, 10%; <italic>P</italic>=.001), which only assessed clinically relevant anxiety and depression. Assessment order made no significant difference to the duration of assessment or to the rates of YouthCHAT-detected positive screens for anxiety and depression. There were no significant differences in student acceptability survey results between the two assessments. Nurses identified that students found YouthCHAT easy to answer and that it helped students answer face-to-face questions, especially those of a sensitive nature. Difficulties encountered with YouthCHAT included occasional Wi-Fi connectivity and student literacy issues. CONCLUSIONS This study provides preliminary evidence regarding the shorter administration time, detection rates, and acceptability of YouthCHAT as a school-based psychosocial screener for young people. Although further research is needed to confirm its effectiveness in other age and ethnic groups, YouthCHAT shows promise for aiding earlier identification and treatment of common psychosocial problems in young people, including possible use as part of an annual, school-based, holistic health check. CLINICALTRIAL Australian New Zealand Clinical Trials Network Registry (ACTRN) ACTRN12616001243404p; https://www.anzctr.org.au/Trial/Registration/TrialReview.aspx?id=371422.


10.2196/13911 ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 21 (12) ◽  
pp. e13911 ◽  
Author(s):  
Hiran Thabrew ◽  
Simona D'Silva ◽  
Margot Darragh ◽  
Mary Goldfinch ◽  
Jake Meads ◽  
...  

Background Psychosocial problems such as depression, anxiety, and substance abuse are common and burdensome in young people. In New Zealand, screening for such problems is undertaken routinely only with year 9 students in low-decile schools and opportunistically in pediatric settings using a nonvalidated and time-consuming clinician-administered Home, Education, Eating, Activities, Drugs and Alcohol, Sexuality, Suicide and Depression, Safety (HEEADSSS) interview. The Youth version, Case-finding and Help Assessment Tool (YouthCHAT) is a relatively new, locally developed, electronic tablet–based composite screener for identifying similar psychosocial issues to HEEADSSS Objective This study aimed to compare the performance and acceptability of YouthCHAT with face-to-face HEEADSSS assessment among 13-year-old high school students. Methods A counterbalanced randomized trial of YouthCHAT screening either before or after face-to-face HEEADSSS assessment was undertaken with 129 13-year-old New Zealand high school students of predominantly Māori and Pacific Island ethnicity. Main outcome measures were comparability of YouthCHAT and HEEADSSS completion times, detection rates, and acceptability to students and school nurses. Results YouthCHAT screening was more than twice as fast as HEEADSSS assessment (mean 8.57 min vs mean 17.22 min; mean difference 8 min 25 seconds [range 6 min 20 seconds to 11 min 10 seconds]; P<.01) and detected more issues overall on comparable domains. For substance misuse and problems at home, both instruments were roughly comparable. YouthCHAT detected significantly more problems with eating or body image perception (70/110, 63.6% vs 25/110, 22.7%; P<.01), sexual health (24/110, 21.8% vs 10/110, 9.1%; P=.01), safety (65/110, 59.1% vs 17/110, 15.5%; P<.01), and physical inactivity (43/110, 39.1% vs 21/110, 19.1%; P<.01). HEEADSSS had a greater rate of detection for a broader set of mental health issues (30/110, 27%) than YouthCHAT (11/110, 10%; P=.001), which only assessed clinically relevant anxiety and depression. Assessment order made no significant difference to the duration of assessment or to the rates of YouthCHAT-detected positive screens for anxiety and depression. There were no significant differences in student acceptability survey results between the two assessments. Nurses identified that students found YouthCHAT easy to answer and that it helped students answer face-to-face questions, especially those of a sensitive nature. Difficulties encountered with YouthCHAT included occasional Wi-Fi connectivity and student literacy issues. Conclusions This study provides preliminary evidence regarding the shorter administration time, detection rates, and acceptability of YouthCHAT as a school-based psychosocial screener for young people. Although further research is needed to confirm its effectiveness in other age and ethnic groups, YouthCHAT shows promise for aiding earlier identification and treatment of common psychosocial problems in young people, including possible use as part of an annual, school-based, holistic health check. Trial Registration Australian New Zealand Clinical Trials Network Registry (ACTRN) ACTRN12616001243404p; https://www.anzctr.org.au/Trial/Registration/TrialReview.aspx?id=371422.


2021 ◽  
Vol 23 (8) ◽  
pp. 102-138
Author(s):  
Clarissa De Assis Olgin ◽  
Claudia Lisete Oliveira Groenwald ◽  
Carmen Teresa Kaiber

Background: Developing autonomy, the ability to solve problem situations, make decisions and act for the benefit of your social environment are modern life skills and can be developed in the school environment, along with mathematical content, and can be viable through the methodology of project projects, using active methodologies and the resources of digital technologies. Objectives: Discuss the Mathematics Curriculum or the work projects as a pedagogical proposition based on the development of three projects with the thematic Cryptography, Music, and Project launching applicable to the High School. Design: Qualitative research that sought to investigate work with projects in High School was used. Setting and Participants: Experiments developed with two classes of high school students in the Rio Grande do Sul state. Data collection and analysis: Data collection took place during the development of the project stages through students' written records and questionnaires. Results: It is considered that the Work Projects developed constituted a possibility to modify the role of the student and the teacher, allowing students to become active, participative, and committed to the development of their knowledge. Conclusions: It is understood that students, their learning and development must be the focus of the educational process. Therefore, the school curriculum must enable students to assume the role and responsibility for their learning.


Author(s):  
Genevieve Baumont ◽  
Tanja Perko ◽  
Grażyna Zakrzewska ◽  
Metka Kralj ◽  
Daniela Diaconu ◽  
...  

The EAGLE project was a Euratom FP7 which helped to identify and disseminate good practices in information and communication processes related to ionizing radiation. For this purpose, the consortium reviewed national and international data, tools and methods as well as institutional work in order to identify education, information and communication needs. Generally in high school the first concepts on radioactivity and ionizing radiation (IR) are introduced mainly in the subjects of physics or physical chemistry. There are a number of concepts in relation with IR and nuclear topics, and different ways to teach them: theoretical, mathematical, historical or practical. The question also rose, to what extend the various topics related to ionizing radiation (health, environment, history) are dealt with. As already mentioned, all these questions let to the idea to compare the content dealing with radioactivity and nuclear topics in different physics school books and more specifically schoolbooks for high school students (in the age 17 to 18). The method was as follows: - For the review the different partners of EAGLE have sent the schoolbooks used for the target group, or scanned documents. - Spanish schoolbooks and English schoolbooks were purchased to extend the review to other EU countries. - IRSN works in partnership with a high school based in the French town Vichy. - Each book was analyzed in detail to list with precision the content. A matrix helped to compare them. The paper presents the comparison of the contents of these books and their analysis. Some recommendations coming from the Eagle project will be discussed.


2016 ◽  
Vol 8 (9) ◽  
pp. 271 ◽  
Author(s):  
Baratali Rezapour ◽  
Firoozeh Mostafavi ◽  
Hamid Reza Khalkhali

<p><strong>OBJECTIVES:</strong> Students attend sedentary life style and less like vigorous physical activity. This study investigated the effects of School-based intervention<strong> </strong>on increasing physical activity for decreasing obesity among high-school obese and overweight boys, based on the components of PRECEDE PROCEED Model, to participate in median - vigorous physical activity among the first Period of high school boys in the city of Urmia, Iran</p><p><strong>METHODS:</strong> This study was an experimental intervention that conducted at 4 high schools that were divided into 2 groups of intervention (40) and the control (40) male students, schools in junior high schools in Urmia.</p><p><strong>RESULTS:</strong> Three and six months after the intervention, significant differences were found between the experimental and control groups of schools, in the amount of students’ participation in vigorous physical activity (p&lt;0.01).</p><p><strong>CONCLUSIONS:</strong> According to the results, the school-based intervention and components of PRECEDE PROCEED Model had a positive impact on the improvement of physical activity and decrease in physical inactivity among the students.</p>


2021 ◽  
Vol 8 (4) ◽  
Author(s):  
Marie Dubuc ◽  
Seira Fortin-Suzuki ◽  
Sylvie Beaudoin ◽  
Felix Berrigan ◽  
Sylvain Turcotte

Objective: To contribute to the development of tailored school-based physical activity interventions, in this study, we aimed to identify the perceived facilitating factors and barriers of high school students toward their physical activity in the school environment. Methods: A total of 139 students from 4 different high schools completed an online questionnaire comprising open-ended questions on their perceived facilitating factors and barriers toward their physical activity at school. Thereafter, 100 of these students participated in one of the 16 focus groups designed to deepen students’ responses regarding their perceived facilitating factors and barriers. Qualitative content analysis was performed to classify data according to the Social-Ecological Model. Results: Through questionnaires, students mostly identified intrapersonal elements as facilitating factors and barriers to their practice of physical activity, as opposed to institutional factors during the focus groups. Girls strongly valued the characteristics of the interventions and of the involved school stakeholders. Conclusions: Our results allow us to qualify the current understanding of high school students’ perceived facilitating factors and barriers toward school-based physical activity and strengthen the relevance of surveying students prior to the development and implementation of physical activity interventions.


2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
◽  
Rochelle Alison Duke

<p>Portfolio learning has been utilised in education for many years and a natural development in today's digital environment has been the move from paper to electronic portfolios (e-portfolios). The development of e-portfolios in New Zealand has also been driven by two forces- the emerging view that e-portfolios can be an effective way to support constructivist approaches to learning and help develop students into 'lifelong learners' ; and the beliefs about today's digital environment and the way in which students should and do operate within this. In many ways, e-portfolio research is a relatively young field of study and much of the research that has been conducted has occurred in the tertiary environment and related to the perceptions of the instructor or technologist. In an attempt to add depth to current e-portfolio research, this study made use of a mixed-methods, descriptive case study approach in order to focus on the perceptions of a group of high school students and the way in which they experienced using the e-portfolio application MyPortfolio for the first time. Key findings of this study focus on the way in which students experienced using MyPortfolio and the fact that although it is often claimed that e-portfolio tools can be effective in helping developing reflective thinking in students, overall, the students in this study predominately saw MyPortfolio as a tool to organise and process knowledge rather than something that could help them to engage in 'deep learning'. The experiences and perceptions of the students in this study also challenged ideas about how much students want to use ICT within the school environment and this study suggests that increased use of ICT can lead to students missing the social interaction that usually occurs within the classroom. In a similar vein, the students in this study also challenged the idea of the 'digital native' and their experiences suggest that, as with any area of learning, students' skills with using ICT varied greatly. The way that the students in this study made use of MyPortfolio also demonstrates the fact that although e-portfolio tools such as MyPortfolio offer students the opportunity to engage in reflective learning, they do not necessarily undertake this naturally. Finally, the findings of this study highlight the role of the teacher in supporting effective use of ICT for learning.</p>


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