Psychosocial assessment in the general pediatric population: a multiple-gated screening and identification procedure

This article describes a screening and assessment procedure to identify the need for psychologic and psychiatric services within the general pediatric population. This procedure is additionally designed to facilitate timely and focused treatment planning. It begins with a brief, user friendly instrument, the Pediatric Symptom Checklist (PSC), to routinely screen all pediatric patients. The procedure continues by asking parents of children who are identified as meeting cutoff criteria (on the PSC) or at-risk for psychosocial problems to complete a more sophisticated instrument, the Child Behavior Checklist. Using the PSC and the Child Behavior Checklist in this multiple-gated manner allows for screening and then identification of problem child behaviors, providing data necessary to complete an initial treatment plan. The procedure is proposed as an efficient means of routinely screening for, and then identifying, child psychosocial problems in general pediatric populations.