Encouraging discussion of psychosocial issues at student health visits

In a pilot study, the authors distributed a brief questionnaire dealing with psychosocial concerns to 200 students awaiting treatment in the student health service at a large urban university. They hypothesized that a questionnaire administered immediately before students visited the physician or family nurse practitioner would encourage the students to discuss problems such as anxiety and depression during the medical session. Using the questionnaire, they found, led to the practitioner's discovery of a condition requiring treatment or explaining a problem the student had not discussed in previous visits. Such a questionnaire, the authors suggest, could be a valuable means for identifying psychosocial concerns significant enough to require treatment or further evaluation.