Screening Resources (12-18 years old)
Bright Futures recommends universal screening for depression and tobacco, alcohol, or drug use during preventive service visits with youth ages 12-18.9 The following is a list of resources that can be used to assist in screening:
- Mental Health Tools for Pediatrics
- Table of tools to help determine which resources might be appropriate for each stage of screening, evaluating, and treating pediatric mental health needs.
- Bright Futures Guidelines, 4th Edition: Priorities and Screening Tables
- Recommendations on age-specific visit priorities and screening
- Mental Health Minute Video Series: Screening Tools
- Discussion of select secondary screening tools
- Guidelines for Adolescent Depression in Primary Care (GLAD-PC) Toolkit
- This toolkit helps providers to apply GLAD-PC guidelines to their practice. Pages 17-81 of this toolkit feature general psychosocial screening tools and screening and diagnostic aids.
- Blueprint for Youth Suicide Prevention
- An educational resource to support pediatric health clinicians and other health professionals in identifying strategies and key partnerships to support youth at risk for suicide.
- Ask Suicide-Screening Questions (ASQ) Toolkit
- A validated tool to screen for suicide risk. The toolkit features information sheets, flyer, video, and scripts for various medical settings.
- Car, Relax, Alone, Forget, Family or Friends, Trouble (CRAFFT) Interview
- Tool to assess substance use. Center for Adolescent Behavioral Health Research. It is freely accessible. The tool can be downloaded but may require permission to use commercially. (Use as brief assessment if S2BI result is positive.)
- Pediatric Symptom Checklist (PSC)
- Universal screening tool that identifies elevated internalizing symptoms (eg, anxiety, low mood) and symptoms of inattention and impulsivity. It is freely accessible. The tool can be downloaded but may require permission to use commercially. The original questionnaire consists of 35 questions (PSC-35); a shorter 17-item version (PSC-17) is also available. It features 29 different language versions, a caregiver screening version, and a youth self-report version.
- Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire (SDQ)
- Behavioral screening questionnaire that includes a prosocial scale to assess strengths as well as areas of difficulties. It is freely available. The tool can be downloaded but may require permission to use commercially. It is available in several different languages with caregiver, teacher, and youth self-report versions.
- Patient Health Questionnaire (PHQ)-9 Modified for Adolescents
- Universal screening tool for adolescent depression, commonly known as the PHQ-A depression screening. Abbreviated 9-item screening specifically for depression plus severity items. It is freely accessible. The tool can be downloaded but may require permission to use commercially. It is important to note that the PHQ-9 and PHQ-A are validated for depression screening but are not sufficient to screen for suicide risk.
- Many language translations are available.
- S2BI Screening to Brief Intervention (S2BI)
- Brief screening to categorize substance use into risk categories. It is freely accessible. The tool can be downloaded but may require permission to use commercially.
- Download a pocket card.
9 American Academy of Pediatrics. Bright Futures Presentations and Handouts. AAP website. Updated May 2, 2023. Accessed November 21, 2023. https://www.aap.org/en/practice-management/bright-futures/bright-futures-materials-and-tools/bright-futures-presentations-and-handouts/