It’s no secret that the COVID-19 pandemic is having many effects beyond kids getting sick with COVID-19…
“Coronavirus disease (COVID-19) can affect children and young people directly and indirectly. Beyond getting sick, many young people’s social, emotional, and mental well-being has been impacted by the pandemic. Trauma faced at this developmental stage can continue to affect them across their lifespan.”
COVID-19 Parental Resources Kit
How we find these kids with social, emotional, and mental issues shouldn’t be a secret either.
Screening Questionnaires in Pediatrics
Of course, not all kids are having problems right now.
Are yours?
“Here are some quick ideas for how to get conversations started with children and young people about how they are feeling and what they are struggling with regarding COVID-19. You don’t have to use these exact words—you know best how to speak with your child, adolescent or youth. In addition, how we talk to children and young people varies depending on their age and developmental level.”
COVID-19 Parental Resources Kit
In addition to using some of the conversation starters in the COVID-19 Parental Resources Kit from the CDC and seeing your health care provider for a check-up, these screening questionnaires and checklists might help you discover issues that your kids are having.
Screening questionnaires?
While these aren’t necessarily designed for parents to use to screen their kids on their own, there are a large number of questionnaires and screening tools that your health care provider can use to make sure your kids are safe and healthy, including:
- Ask Suicide-Screening Questions (ASQ) – a suicide risk screening tool
- Patient Health Questionnaire (PHQ-A) – PHQ-9 depression screening modified for teens
- Mood and Feelings Questionnaire
- Vanderbilt Assessment Scales – parent and teacher scales for ADHD with scoring instructions
- SCOFF Questions – screens for eating disorders
- Eating Attitudes Test (EAT-26) – screens for eating disorders
- The CRAFFT Screening Questions – screens for drug and alcohol abuse
- Screening to Brief Intervention (S2BI) – screens for alcohol, tobacco, and other drug use
- Brief Screener for Alcohol, Tobacco, and other Drugs (BSTAD) – frequency of use questions to identify risky substance use by adolescent patients ages 12-17.
- Pediatric Symptom Checklist – Youth Report – used to recognize psychosocial problems
- Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire (SDQ) – a brief behavioural screening questionnaire about 3-16 year olds.
- Hamilton Anxiety Rating Scale (HAM-A) – assesses the severity of anxiety symptoms
- Spence Children’s Anxiety Scale
- Generalized Anxiety Disorder 7-item (GAD-7) scale
- The Screen for Child Anxiety Related Disorders (SCARED) – screens for signs of anxiety disorders in children
- Children’s Yale-Brown Obsessive Compulsive Symptom Checklist
- H.E.A.D.S.S.-A Pyschosocial Interview For Adolescents
- Global Appraisal of Individual Needs – Comprehensive biopsychosocial assessment tools that cover many areas, including for substance use and mental health
- Functional Assessment Screening Tool (FAST) – identifies factors that may influence problem behaviors.
- BEARS Questionnaire – identifies sleep problems in children
- Pediatric Sleep Questionnaire (PSQ) – asks about snoring and other features of OSA
- Yale Global Tic Severity Scale
- The Modified Overt Aggression Scale (MOAS) – rates the patient’s aggressive behavior over the past week
- Young Mania Rating Scale (YMRS) – screens for bipolar disorder
- SEEK Parent Questionnaire-R (PQ-R) – screens for prevalent and targeted psychosocial problems such as parental depression and substance use.
- Well Child Care, Evaluation, Community Resources, Advocacy, Referral, Education (WE CARE) – screens for family psychosocial problems
- Income, Housing, Education, Legal Status, Literacy, Personal Safety (IHELLP) Questionnaire – screens for social factors impacting your patients’ health
- Hunger Vital Sign – food insecurity screening tool based
- The Health Leads Social Needs Screening Toolkit – identifies and screens patients for adverse social determinants of health
- CAPS-CA-5 – Clinician-Administered PTSD Scale for DSM-5 – Child and Adolescent Version
- Childhood Attachment and Relational Trauma Screen (CARTS)
- Global Psychotrauma Screen
- Child Vision History Questionnaire for Parent/Caregiver
- Abuse Assessment Screen – screens for domestic violence
At the very least, these types of pediatric screening questionnaires can be a good starting point if you suspect that your child is having problems.
More on Pediatric Screening Questionnaires and Checklists
- What to Do If Your Teen Is Talking About Suicide
- Teen Depression Screening
- Getting Diagnosed With Autism As an Older Teen Or Young Adult
- When to Call Your Pediatrician – COVID-19 Edition
- Telemedicine for Parents and Pediatric Providers
- Treating Hard to Control ADHD
- At-Home Autism Checklists for Toddlers
- Bright Futures Developmental, Behavioral, Psychosocial, Screening, and Assessment Forms
- Questionnaires and Rating Scales
- AAP – Assessing the Adolescent Patient
- CDC – Developmental Monitoring and Screening for Health Professionals
- CRAFFT
- Adolescent SBIRT Toolkit for Providers
- Alcohol Screening and Brief Intervention for Youth: A Practitioner’s Guide
- Edinburgh Postnatal Depression Scale (EPDS)
- Pediatric Symptom Checklist
- Patient Health Questionnaire (PHQ) Screeners
- Getting into adolescent heads
- Trevor Support Center
- Screening for Poverty and Poverty-Related Social Determinants of Health
- Addressing Food Insecurity: A Toolkit for Pediatricians
- Instruments for Assessing Traumatic Stress in Young Children
- Screening for Domestic Violence
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