The Mental Wellness Tool: A Brief Screener for Mental Disorders, Substance Use Disorders, and Suicide Risk

Brief screening and triage tools are essential for reducing mental health disparities and for expanding access to care globally. This article describes the validation of the 13-item Mental Wellness Tool (mwTool-13) against routine psychiatric assessment in an acute care setting.

The mwTool-13 is a brief two-step questionnaire used to screen for the presence of psychiatric conditions and to stratify positive results into four categories: common mental disorders, severe mental disorders, substance use disorders, and suicide risk. The tool was administered to 269 patients receiving care in a psychiatric emergency department (ED); the tool's results were compared with the diagnoses made through routine psychiatric ED assessment.

The tool's first step (three items) was highly sensitive in identifying the presence of any mental disorder (sensitivity=0.95). The sensitivity and specificity of the entire tool were, respectively, 0.97 and 0.67 for common mental disorders, 0.65 and 0.71 for severe mental disorders, 0.80 and 0.58 for substance use disorders (alcohol, drugs, or both), and 0.93 and 0.50 for suicide risk.

With three items, the tool performed well in identifying the presence of any mental disorder. The complete 13-item tool performed well in identifying conditions and classifying them into common or severe mental disorders, substance use disorders, and suicide risk. The mwTool-13 can enhance early identification and triage of mental health needs in diverse settings.