The Heads Up Checkup Digital Mental Health & Behavioral Risk Screening System: Clinical Inter‐Rater Reliability for Identifying Youth in Crisis
ABSTRACT The present study evaluated the inter‐rater reliability of the Heads Up Checkup (HCU), a brief digital mental health and behavioral adaptive screening system designed for use in primary care and diverse school settings. Two independent licensed clinical psychologists reviewed a random sampl...
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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Wiley
2025-03-01
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| Series: | Mental Health Science |
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| Online Access: | https://doi.org/10.1002/mhs2.99 |
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| author | Nancy P. Genero Alyssa Lozano Mariana Sanchez Miguel Angel Cano |
| author_facet | Nancy P. Genero Alyssa Lozano Mariana Sanchez Miguel Angel Cano |
| author_sort | Nancy P. Genero |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | ABSTRACT The present study evaluated the inter‐rater reliability of the Heads Up Checkup (HCU), a brief digital mental health and behavioral adaptive screening system designed for use in primary care and diverse school settings. Two independent licensed clinical psychologists reviewed a random sample of 30 (N = 30) HCU clinical screening reports of 13−14 year old adolescents drawn from a larger sample (N = 846) enrolled in a public middle school in California. Results showed strong inter‐rater agreement (Fleiss kappa = 0.93) between clinician ratings and the screener's priority risk index (HPI) in identifying students “in crisis.” In addition, clinicians' ratings of confidence in their priority judgments were found to be significantly higher for the “in crisis” cases. Reasonable evidence of convergent validity emerged due to a strong relationship between clinician ratings of psychological distress and the HPI. Overall findings suggest that as an online universal school‐based screener, the HCU has valid utility for identifying young adolescents “in crisis” which can translate into timely interventions and pragmatic real‐world therapeutic solutions. Future research directions with respect to the refinement of the HCU's measurement characteristics and its feasibility as an online screener at the population‐level in schools are discussed. |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj-art-e08ece70a12b41ca89c1dea13c828fc6 |
| institution | OA Journals |
| issn | 2642-3588 |
| language | English |
| publishDate | 2025-03-01 |
| publisher | Wiley |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Mental Health Science |
| spelling | doaj-art-e08ece70a12b41ca89c1dea13c828fc62025-08-20T02:04:49ZengWileyMental Health Science2642-35882025-03-0131n/an/a10.1002/mhs2.99The Heads Up Checkup Digital Mental Health & Behavioral Risk Screening System: Clinical Inter‐Rater Reliability for Identifying Youth in CrisisNancy P. Genero0Alyssa Lozano1Mariana Sanchez2Miguel Angel Cano3Department of Psychology Wellesley College Wellesley Massachusetts USASchool of Nursing and Health Studies University of Miami Miami Florida USADepartment of Health Promotion & Disease Prevention, Health Disparities Concentration, Robert Stempel College of Public Health and Social Work Florida International University Miami Florida USAPeter O'Donnell Jr. School of Public Health The University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center Dallas Texas USAABSTRACT The present study evaluated the inter‐rater reliability of the Heads Up Checkup (HCU), a brief digital mental health and behavioral adaptive screening system designed for use in primary care and diverse school settings. Two independent licensed clinical psychologists reviewed a random sample of 30 (N = 30) HCU clinical screening reports of 13−14 year old adolescents drawn from a larger sample (N = 846) enrolled in a public middle school in California. Results showed strong inter‐rater agreement (Fleiss kappa = 0.93) between clinician ratings and the screener's priority risk index (HPI) in identifying students “in crisis.” In addition, clinicians' ratings of confidence in their priority judgments were found to be significantly higher for the “in crisis” cases. Reasonable evidence of convergent validity emerged due to a strong relationship between clinician ratings of psychological distress and the HPI. Overall findings suggest that as an online universal school‐based screener, the HCU has valid utility for identifying young adolescents “in crisis” which can translate into timely interventions and pragmatic real‐world therapeutic solutions. Future research directions with respect to the refinement of the HCU's measurement characteristics and its feasibility as an online screener at the population‐level in schools are discussed.https://doi.org/10.1002/mhs2.99adolescent psychological distressconvergent validityinter‐rater reliabilityyouth mental health risk assessment |
| spellingShingle | Nancy P. Genero Alyssa Lozano Mariana Sanchez Miguel Angel Cano The Heads Up Checkup Digital Mental Health & Behavioral Risk Screening System: Clinical Inter‐Rater Reliability for Identifying Youth in Crisis Mental Health Science adolescent psychological distress convergent validity inter‐rater reliability youth mental health risk assessment |
| title | The Heads Up Checkup Digital Mental Health & Behavioral Risk Screening System: Clinical Inter‐Rater Reliability for Identifying Youth in Crisis |
| title_full | The Heads Up Checkup Digital Mental Health & Behavioral Risk Screening System: Clinical Inter‐Rater Reliability for Identifying Youth in Crisis |
| title_fullStr | The Heads Up Checkup Digital Mental Health & Behavioral Risk Screening System: Clinical Inter‐Rater Reliability for Identifying Youth in Crisis |
| title_full_unstemmed | The Heads Up Checkup Digital Mental Health & Behavioral Risk Screening System: Clinical Inter‐Rater Reliability for Identifying Youth in Crisis |
| title_short | The Heads Up Checkup Digital Mental Health & Behavioral Risk Screening System: Clinical Inter‐Rater Reliability for Identifying Youth in Crisis |
| title_sort | heads up checkup digital mental health behavioral risk screening system clinical inter rater reliability for identifying youth in crisis |
| topic | adolescent psychological distress convergent validity inter‐rater reliability youth mental health risk assessment |
| url | https://doi.org/10.1002/mhs2.99 |
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