SynthesisJournal of the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry2013
Universal mental health screening in pediatric primary care: a systematic review.
Synthesis in Journal of the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, 2013. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. An erratum has been issued. Cited by 85 papers, 6 of them syntheses that pooled it.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
85 citing papers in PubMed, 6 syntheses or guidelines pooled it.
- Screening parents of children with a chronic condition for mental health problems: a systematic review.Archives of disease in childhood · 2025Pooled it
- Universal Child Mental Health Screening for Parents: a Systematic Review of the Evidence.Prevention science : the official journal of the Society for Prevention Research · 2024Pooled it
- Interventions to improve children's access to mental health care: a systematic review and meta-analysis.Epidemiology and psychiatric sciences · 2019Pooled it
- National Child Mental Health Quality Measures: Adherence Rates and Extent of Evidence for Clinical Validity.Current psychiatry reports · 2019Pooled it
- Does screening for and intervening with multiple health compromising behaviours and mental health disorders amongst young people attending primary care improve health outcomes? A systematic review.BMC family practice · 2016Pooled it
- Primary Care Interventions to Prevent or Treat Traumatic Stress in Childhood: A Systematic Review.Academic pediatricsPooled it
- Screening for parent and child ADHD in urban pediatric primary care: pilot implementation and stakeholder perspectives.BMC pediatrics · 2023Trial
- Construct validity of a service-setting based measure to identify mental health problems in infancy.PloS one · 2019Trial
- Educating Adolescents About Assessing Mental Health During Well Care Visits.Community mental health journal · 2026Article
- Child and adolescent psychiatry: challenges, solutions, opportunities, and future directions.World psychiatry : official journal of the World Psychiatric Association (WPA) · 2026Article
- Impact of psychosocial status on sleep quality in adolescents with childhood-onset systemic lupus erythematosus.Pediatric rheumatology online journal · 2026Article
- Population-oriented health promotion and disease prevention interventions in primary healthcare: a scoping review of reviews.BMC primary care · 2026Article
- Mental health assessment as part of European pediatric primary care: potential instruments and implementation considerations.European journal of pediatrics · 2026Review
- 2025 update of the Greig Health Record: Part 2-what's controversial?Canadian family physician Medecin de famille canadien · 2026Review
- Understanding adolescents' perspectives on suicide risk screening in primary care: Implications and insights for implementation and practice.PLOS mental health · 2026Article
- Agreement between child- and informant-based mental health assessments: results from a national population-based study in Lebanon.Social psychiatry and psychiatric epidemiology · 2026Article
- Physician Preferences for Universal Routine Depression Screening for Adolescents in Primary Care.JAMA network open · 2025Article
- Social Vulnerability and Racial Disparities in Depression Screening of US Adolescents, 2016 to 2021.American journal of public health · 2025Article
- An Innovative Youth-Friendly Electronic Questionnaire to Identify Mental, Sexual and Reproductive Health Risks: A Validation Study of the Total Teen Assessment.Health expectations : an international journal of public participation in health care and health policy · 2025Article
- Prevalence and associated factors of somatic symptoms among adolescents in Singapore: a cross-sectional study.Annals of general psychiatry · 2025Article
25 more citing papers are in PubMed but not listed here.
Corrections and comments
- Commented on by
- Erratum issued
Authors and funding
7 authors.
Funding
Abstract
objectiveUniversal mental health screening in pediatric primary care is recommended, but studies report slow uptake and low rates of patient follow-through after referral to specialized services. This review examined possible explanations related to the process of screening, focusing on how parents and youth are engaged, and how providers evaluate and use screening results.
methodA narrative synthesis was developed after a systematic review of 3 databases (plus follow-up of citations, expert recommendations, and checks for multiple publications about the same study). Searching identified 1,188 titles, and of these, 186 full-text articles were reviewed. Two authors extracted data from 45 articles meeting inclusion criteria.
resultsPublished studies report few details about how mental health screens were administered, including how clinicians explain their purpose or confidentiality, or whether help was provided for language, literacy, or disability problems. Although they were not addressed directly in the studies reviewed, uptake and detection rates appeared to vary with means of administration. Screening framed as universal, confidential, and intended to optimize attention to patient concerns increased acceptability. Studies said little about how providers were taught to explore screen results. Screening increased referrals, but many still followed negative screens, in some cases because of parent concerns apparently not reflected by screen results but possibly stemming from screen-prompted discussions.
conclusionsLittle research has addressed the process of engaging patients in mental health screening in pediatric primary care or how clinicians can best use screening results. The literature does offer suggestions for better clinical practice and research that may lead to improvements in uptake and outcome.
Indexed as
Identifiers
What OpenQuestion holds
Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.