One in five children has a mental health problem by the age of three. Early detection is the key to early intervention and can also prevent more serious conditions in the future, such as ADHD, depression, and anxiety. Because pediatricians have close and ongoing relationships with young patients and their families, and tend to have broad influence in historically marginalized communities, pediatric primary care should screen for mental health risks. It’s an ideal environment to do so. Because mental health screening of young children is rarely performed in primary care, train pediatricians to screen without implicit bias and in a way that prevents unintended consequences such as increased stigma. is important.
Clinicians at Chicago’s Ann & Robert H. Lurie Children’s Hospital will lead Northwestern University’s new Center for Early Mental Health, funded by an $11.7 million grant from the National Institutes of Health’s National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH). We are partnering with you to address these concerns. They plan to provide support to approximately 1,200 young children by conducting mental health risk screenings in 30 clinics, communicating results to families, and training pediatricians to make decisions about next steps. That’s what I’m aiming for.
“We will work with pediatricians and parents to develop interactive training that is anti-racist, culturally responsive, and specific to early childhood practices,” says Screening Equity. said Andrea Spencer, MD, principal investigator of the NIMH grant subproject focused on. Mental health risks for young children. Dr. Spencer is Associate Director of Research in the Pritzker Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Health at Lurie Children’s Hospital and Associate Professor of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences at Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine.
Pediatricians may feel uncomfortable talking to families about their child’s mental health, especially when time is limited, and may be subject to unconscious bias in how they approach families from diverse backgrounds. It may be easy. We want to help pediatricians implement effective, unbiased, evidence-based screening. ”
Dr. Andrea Spencer, Principal Investigator
This training includes weekly sessions over several months via video conference. Each session includes a didactic portion and a case consultation, allowing pediatricians to dissect difficult real-world screening situations. This will complement the basic training pediatricians receive on screening young children for mental health risks as part of the overall implementation of the Mental Health Early Center.
In addition to fairness considerations, training content is also evaluated for potential ethical issues to proactively address unintended consequences. This is done before the training takes place and during the course of the training session.
“We have an ethical responsibility to consider how mental health testing in primary care may impact children, particularly those from minority groups,” says Ethicist in the Department of Mental Health said Dr. Seema Shah, HEC-C. Co-Principal Investigator for initial center and grant-wide ethics subprojects. She is the Director of Research Ethics and Chair of the Founding Board of Medical Ethics at Lurie Children’s and Professor of Pediatrics at Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine.
“We need to understand how children identified as being at risk for mental health at an early age are treated when they start school, or whether that risk identification becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy. “I’m thinking about it,” Professor Shah said. “On the other hand, pediatricians may worry about bias and miss identifying children who really need help. We ensure that these types of concerns are addressed before and during the rollout of training. We want to address “implementation science.” Our project is novel because it integrates ethics, equity, and ethics. ”
The core team for the Mental Health Early Center also includes Michelle Macy, MD, MSc, of Lurie Children’s Hospital, who will lead the overall evaluation of the project. “It is important to evaluate the effectiveness of these trainings so we can learn how to continually improve their content and delivery, so we can replicate and scale our efforts.” said Dr. Macy, Director of Mary Ann & J. Milburn. Smith Child Health Outcomes, Center for Research and Evaluation at the Stanley Manne Children’s Research Institute at Lurie Children’s, and Professor of Pediatrics at Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine. “We want to proceed with equity and ethics in mind. Ultimately, we want young children who are showing signs of mental health concerns to be protected from more difficult mental illnesses. We hope to receive early intervention.”
The Lurie Children’s team working on the project through the Mental Health Early Center includes Audrey Brewer, MD, MPH, Susan Friedland, MD, John Parkhurst, MD, Alize Jaffe Sass, PhD, and John Wolk. Also included is Dr. Up, M.D.
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Ann & Robert H. Lurie Children’s Hospital of Chicago
