Screening tools assessing mental illness in primary care: A systematic review

Area of Science:

• Psychiatry
• General Practice
• Health Services Research

Background:

• General practitioners require efficient and accurate screening tools for diverse mental health conditions.
• Current management of mental illness in primary care can be improved with better diagnostic instruments.
• The need for comprehensive assessment tools that are both diagnostically precise and time-efficient is critical.

Purpose of the Study:

• To systematically review and identify screening tools for mental health assessment in primary care.
• To evaluate screening tools based on their diagnostic accuracy and time efficiency.
• To determine if multiple-mental disorder or transdiagnostic approaches are more effective.

Main Methods:

• A systematic literature search was conducted across major databases (MEDLINE, Embase, Cochrane Library, Psyndex, PsycINFO).
• Studies included adult patients in primary care settings using multiple-mental disorder or transdiagnostic screening tools.
• Diagnostic accuracy was measured by sensitivity, specificity, and predictive values; time efficiency was assessed by item count and completion time.

Main Results:

• Eleven studies met the inclusion criteria for the systematic review.
• Most identified screening tools assessed multiple mental disorders individually; a subset utilized a transdiagnostic approach.
• The majority of tools demonstrated sufficient sensitivity and specificity, and all were found to be time-efficient.

Conclusions:

• The eleven identified screening tools can aid general practitioners in identifying patients with mental health issues.
• Significant heterogeneity exists in the diagnostic scope of psychopathology among the reviewed tools.
• Future development should focus on screening tools for primary care that address broad mental illness constructs, including transdiagnostic factors and personality dysfunction.