School-based screening to identify at-risk students not already known to school professionals: the Columbia suicide screen.
OBJECTIVE
We sought to determine the degree of overlap between students identified through school-based suicide screening and those thought to be at risk by school administrative and clinical professionals.


METHODS
Students from 7 high schools in the New York metropolitan area completed the Columbia Suicide Screen; 489 of the 1729 students screened had positive results. The clinical status of 641 students (73% of those who had screened positive and 23% of those who had screened negative) was assessed with modules from the Diagnostic Interview Schedule for Children. School professionals nominated by their principal and unaware of students' screening and diagnostic status were asked to indicate whether they were concerned about the emotional well-being of each participating student.


RESULTS
Approximately 34% of students with significant mental health problems were identified only through screening, 13.0% were identified only by school professionals, 34.9% were identified both through screening and by school professionals, and 18.3% were identified neither through screening nor by school professionals. The corresponding percentages among students without mental health problems were 9.1%, 24.0%, 5.5%, and 61.3%.


CONCLUSIONS
School-based screening can identify suicidal and emotionally troubled students not recognized by school professionals.
Scott
Michelle A
MA
Department of Child Psychiatry, New York State PsychiatricInstitute, Columbia University, New York, NY 10032, USA. scottm@childpsych.columbia.edu
Wilcox
Holly C
HC
Schonfeld
Irvin Sam
IS
Davies
Mark
M
Hicks
Roger C
RC
Turner
J Blake
JB
Shaffer
David
D
D000293:Adolescent; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007407:Interviews as Topic; D008297:Male; D008403:Mass Screening; D001523:Mental Disorders / Q000453:epidemiology; D009519:New York City / Q000453:epidemiology; D011369:Professional-Patient Relations; D018570:Risk Assessment / Q000379:methods; D012574:Schools; D013334:Students / Q000523:psychology*; D000092864:Suicide Prevention