The adolescent health review: a brief, multidimensional screening instrument

Abstract 

Purpose: To develop a brief, multidimensional screening instrument for adolescents that addresses psychosocial domains critical to adolescent preventive health care services.

Methods: Secondary analyses were conducted on survey data obtained in 1995 from a school sample of 76,159 students in grades 9 and 12, as well as 893 adolescents from juvenile correctional facilities, 500 adolescents from chemical dependency treatment programs, and 575 adolescents from residential behavioral treatment programs. A comprehensive set of 300 survey items was used in a series of discriminant analyses to determine which items best distinguished males and females in each clinical sample from their counterparts in the school sample.

Results: The item selection for the Adolescent Health Review was guided both by empirical analyses and clinical judgment. The final screen is comprised of 33 demographic and clinical items that address a variety of psychosocial domains. The computerized, self-administered screen can be completed in about 3 minutes. The screen is scored automatically and produces an easy-to-read risk-assessment profile. Because screening items were drawn from a large epidemiologic survey, normative profiles are available for each age and gender subgroup.

Conclusions: A brief, empirically derived screening instrument, designed to address a range of adolescent risks, offers an opportunity for information gathering that otherwise might not be incorporated into routine clinic visits.

Keywords:  Screening, Adolescents, Substance abuse, Mental health, Health risks, Adolescent Health Review, GAPS