Revalidating the brief jail mental health screen to increase accuracy for women.
OBJECTIVE
Jails need a reliable tool to identify inmates who require further mental health assessment and treatment. This research attempted to revalidate the Brief Jail Mental Health Screen (BJMHS) as such a tool. This research added four items to the original eight-item screen (BJMHS-R), targeting depression and trauma to improve performance of the screen with women.


METHODS
BJMHS-R data were collected in four jails from 10,258 detainees. A subset of 464 were administered the Structured Clinical Interview for DSM-IV (SCID) for cross-validation.


RESULTS
The original BJMHS outperformed the revised screen. The original correctly classified 80% of males and 72% of females on the basis of SCID diagnoses, compared with classification rates of 72% and 66%, respectively, with the BJMHS-R. Overall, the BJMHS identified 16% of screened detainees as needing referral for further assessment, whereas the BJMHS-R identified 22%.


CONCLUSIONS
The original eight-item BJMHS is a practical, efficient tool for intake screening by jail correction officers of male and female detainees.
Policy Research Associates Inc, Delmar, NY 12054, USA. hsteadman@prainc.com
Henry J
HJ
Steadman
Pamela Clark
PC
Robbins
Tariqul
T
Islam
Fred C
FC
Osher
D000328:Adult; D005189:False Positive Reactions; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007406:Interview, Psychological; D008297:Male; D008396:Maryland; D008403:Mass Screening / Q000295:instrumentation / Q000592:standards*; D001523:Mental Disorders / Q000175:diagnosis*; D009518:New York; D011329:Prisoners / Q000523:psychology*