ABSTRACT
OBJECTIVES: To evaluate the utility of universal psychosocial screening in the emergency department (ED) using MyHEARTSMAP, a digital self-assessment and management guiding tool. STUDY DESIGN: We conducted a cohort study of youth 10-17 years of age with nonmental health related presentations at 2 pediatric EDs. On randomly selected shifts (December 2017-February 2019), participants completed their psychosocial self-assessments using MyHEARTSMAP on a mobile device, then underwent a standardized clinical mental health assessment (criterion standard). We reported the sensitivity and specificity of respondents' self-assessment, against a clinician's standard emergency psychosocial assessment, and the frequency of psychosocial issues and recommended mental health resources identified by screening. RESULTS: We approached 1432 eligible youth, among which 795 youth consented to participate (55.5%). Youth and guardians' sensitivity at self-identifying psychiatric concerns was 92.7% (95% CI 89.1, 95.4%) and 93.1% (95% CI 89.5, 95.8%), respectively. In cases where clinicians had determined to be no psychiatric issues, 98.5% (95% CI 96.7, 99.4%) of youth and 98.9% (95% CI 97.3, 99.7%) of guardians identified the youth as having no or only mild issues. Screening identified 36.4% of youth as having issues in at least 1 psychosocial domain which warranted further follow-up. CONCLUSIONS: Psychosocial screening in EDs using MyHEARTSMAP can reliably be conducted using the MyHEARTSMAP self-assessment tool and over one-third of screened youth identified issues which can be directed to further care.