TY - JOUR
AU - A. D. Radomski
AU - C. Polihronis
AU - P. Cloutier
AU - K. Beaudin
AU - M. Cappelli
A1 - 
AB - INTRODUCTION: Many young children with mental health or developmental concerns go unidentified and untreated, underscoring the need for effective screening. Primary care offers unique opportunities for screening, yet rates are low. Primary care providers often cite time constraints, insufficient training, and costs as barriers to screening. Tools designed for administration by primary care providers hold promise for facilitating personalized assessments and improving communication, collaboration, and follow-up between providers and families. To improve early identification and intervention, it is crucial to understand provider-administered screening tools that align with their practical constraints. AIM: To identify and describe the characteristics, limitations, and improvement areas of brief, multidimensional screening for young children's mental health and development, designed for administration by primary care providers. METHODS: We conducted a scoping review according to published guidelines. We searched seven electronic databases and used hand-searching strategies. We sought English-language publications on screening tools (English or French) assessing at least one mental health and one development domain in children up to 6 years, designed for administration by primary care providers in under 20 minutes. Two reviewers assessed the articles' eligibility and then extracted, charted, and summarized relevant data. RESULTS: Three screening tools from six articles were included. The tools were primarily administered by physicians or nurses to children aged 2 weeks to 4 years and required minimal training to use. The tools varied in their domains (4-6), items (10-110), psychometric properties, and scoring methods, but all included indicators of delayed or at-risk children. Article limitations included study recency and lack of data related to implementation and patient outcomes. CONCLUSIONS: This review described the development and evaluation of multidimensional screening tools for young children's mental health and development designed for administration by primary care providers. It found that few tools have been published. This review identifies several knowledge gaps and emphasizes the need for research on the implementation, cost-effectiveness, and comparative performance of screening tools, as well as the development and evaluation of new screening tools that suit providers' needs. Future studies should investigate how these screening tools can improve identification, clinical care, and health outcomes.
AD - Knowledge Institute on Child and Youth Mental Health and Addictions, Ottawa, ON, Canada. aradomski@cheo.on.ca.; CHEO (Children's Hospital of Eastern Ontario) Research Institute, 401 Smyth Road, K1H 8L1, Ottawa, ON, Canada. aradomski@cheo.on.ca.; Knowledge Institute on Child and Youth Mental Health and Addictions, Ottawa, ON, Canada.; CHEO (Children's Hospital of Eastern Ontario) Research Institute, 401 Smyth Road, K1H 8L1, Ottawa, ON, Canada.; Department of Psychology, Carleton University, Ottawa, ON, Canada.; CHEO, Ottawa, ON, Canada.; Department of Psychiatry, University of Ottawa, Ottawa, ON, Canada.; School of Psychology, University of Ottawa, Ottawa, ON, Canada.
AN - 40490727
BT - BMC Prim Care
C5 - Healthcare Disparities
CP - 1
DA - Jun 9
DO - 10.1186/s12875-025-02869-z
DP - NLM
ET - 20250609
IS - 1
JF - BMC Prim Care
LA - eng
N2 - INTRODUCTION: Many young children with mental health or developmental concerns go unidentified and untreated, underscoring the need for effective screening. Primary care offers unique opportunities for screening, yet rates are low. Primary care providers often cite time constraints, insufficient training, and costs as barriers to screening. Tools designed for administration by primary care providers hold promise for facilitating personalized assessments and improving communication, collaboration, and follow-up between providers and families. To improve early identification and intervention, it is crucial to understand provider-administered screening tools that align with their practical constraints. AIM: To identify and describe the characteristics, limitations, and improvement areas of brief, multidimensional screening for young children's mental health and development, designed for administration by primary care providers. METHODS: We conducted a scoping review according to published guidelines. We searched seven electronic databases and used hand-searching strategies. We sought English-language publications on screening tools (English or French) assessing at least one mental health and one development domain in children up to 6 years, designed for administration by primary care providers in under 20 minutes. Two reviewers assessed the articles' eligibility and then extracted, charted, and summarized relevant data. RESULTS: Three screening tools from six articles were included. The tools were primarily administered by physicians or nurses to children aged 2 weeks to 4 years and required minimal training to use. The tools varied in their domains (4-6), items (10-110), psychometric properties, and scoring methods, but all included indicators of delayed or at-risk children. Article limitations included study recency and lack of data related to implementation and patient outcomes. CONCLUSIONS: This review described the development and evaluation of multidimensional screening tools for young children's mental health and development designed for administration by primary care providers. It found that few tools have been published. This review identifies several knowledge gaps and emphasizes the need for research on the implementation, cost-effectiveness, and comparative performance of screening tools, as well as the development and evaluation of new screening tools that suit providers' needs. Future studies should investigate how these screening tools can improve identification, clinical care, and health outcomes.
PY - 2025
SN - 2731-4553
SP - 199
ST - Brief multidimensional screening tools for young children's mental health and development for administration by primary care providers: a scoping review
T1 - Brief multidimensional screening tools for young children's mental health and development for administration by primary care providers: a scoping review
T2 - BMC Prim Care
TI - Brief multidimensional screening tools for young children's mental health and development for administration by primary care providers: a scoping review
U1 - Healthcare Disparities
U3 - 10.1186/s12875-025-02869-z
VL - 26
VO - 2731-4553
Y1 - 2025
ER -