Parental Preferences for Mental Health Screening of Youths From a Multinational Survey

Screening youths for mental disorders may assist in prevention, promote early identification, and be associated with reduced related lifetime impairment and distress.

To assess parents' and caregivers' comfort with and preferences for pediatric mental health screening and factors associated with these preferences.

This survey study used an online survey available from July 11 to 14, 2021, through Prolific Academic. Analyses were conducted from November 2021 to November 2022. The survey was administered to English-speaking parents and caregivers in the US, UK, Canada, and 16 other countries who were aged 21 years or older and had at least 1 child aged 5 to 21 years living at home.

The main outcomes were parental preferences regarding content, implementation, and review of the findings of pediatric mental health screening. Parental comfort with screening topics was reported on a 6-point Likert scale with 6 indicating highest comfort. Mixed-effects logistic regression models were used to evaluate factors associated with parental comfort levels.

Of 1200 survey responses requested, data were collected from 1136 participants (94.7%). The final sample meeting the inclusion criteria comprised 972 parents and caregivers aged 21 to 65 years (mean [SD] age, 39.4 [6.9] years; 606 [62.3%] female). A total of 631 participants (64.9%) supported annual mental health screening for their child, and 872 (89.7%) preferred reviewing the screening results with professional staff (eg, physicians). Participants reported significantly decreased comfort with child self-report compared with parent-report screening assessments (b = -0.278; SE = 0.009; P < .001), although they were generally comfortable with both options. Despite slight variations based on country of residence, screening topic, and child's age, participants were generally comfortable discussing all 21 screening topics on the survey. The greatest comfort was with sleep problems (mean [SE] score, 5.30 [0.03]); the least comfort was with firearms (mean [SE] score, 4.71 [0.05]), gender identity (mean [SE] score, 4.68 [0.05]), suicidality (mean [SE] score, 4.62 [0.05]), and substance use or abuse (mean [SE] score, 4.78 [0.05]).

In this survey study of parents and caregivers, parent-reported and child self-reported mental health screening in primary care settings was supported by the majority of the sample, although comfort levels differed according to various factors (eg, screening topic). Participants preferred to discuss screening results with professional health care staff. In addition to parental need for expert guidance, the study findings highlight the growing awareness of child mental health needs and the importance of addressing mental health concerns early via regular mental health screenings.