Piloting a Universal Electronic Youth Mental Health Screening Instrument in State Supported Outpatient Clinics

Background While it is critical to use comprehensive, accurate, and ongoing assessment to guide mental health treatment decisions, evidence-based assessment, including the use of standardized instruments, is not common in public mental health settings. Barriers to the use of evidence-based assessment include but are not limited to challenges around the time and resources required for evidence-based assessment.Objective We conducted a pilot study designed to integrate a novel tool that has the potential to address the barriers to use of evidence-based assessment, the K-CAT®, into nine of the New York State Office of Mental Health licensed outpatient child and adolescent mental health clinics.Method Access to and training on the K-CAT was provided to 49 clinicians working in nine clinics participating in the pilot program across New York State. Data were gathered and analyzed on rates of administration, K-CAT results, and characteristics of and perspectives on using the K-CAT from participating clinicians to understand the scope of youth problems identified and the barriers and facilitators to K-CAT use.Results A total of 781 K-CAT assessments were completed across nine clinics, assessing 499 individual children and adolescents. The mental health symptom profiles of youth screened were diverse. Findings suggest that the K-CAT is feasible for use in publicly funded outpatient child and adolescent mental health clinics, and clinicians expressed positive attitudes about the tool. However, when comparing groups of high and low K-CAT users, significant differences were identified, including clinician confidence and proactive leadership ratings at baseline.Conclusions Results highlight the importance of attending to workflow issues and clinician training needs in promoting routine use of standardized instruments in practice.