Evaluating the HEADS-ED Screening Tool in a Hospital-Based Mental Health and Addictions Central Referral Intake System: A Prospective Cohort Study

OBJECTIVES: We evaluated the use of a mental health (MH) screening tool in a hospital-based centralized MH referral telephonic intake process. The tool is used to guide psychosocial screening in several domains: home; education; activities and peers; drugs and alcohol; suicidality; emotions, thoughts, and behaviors; and discharge resources (HEADS-ED). We wanted to understand the use of the tool to guide next step in care decision-making over the telephone. METHODS: Intake workers used the HEADS-ED tool to guide the assessment processes, identified areas of MH need, and made decisions about next step in care. We completed a retrospective chart review of all callers to the intake system over 4 months to gather initial decision at intake and subsequent steps in treatment. χ 2 and analysis of variance tests were used to examine differences between HEADS-ED scores and next step in care. RESULTS: A total of 674 patients aged 3 to 19 years (mean age = 11.7 years, SD = 0.6; girls = 50.0%) called for services. Significant mean differences were found on total HEADS-ED scores between treatment options (F 4,641 = 75.76; P n = 506 of 587) of initial referrals matched treatments that were actually received. Uptake of the tool was 100%, and interrater reliability indicated strong agreement between raters (intraclass correlation coefficient = 0.82; P CONCLUSIONS: With our results, we support the use of the HEADS-ED tool in a telephone-based MH intake system to help guide the initial assessment and inform decision-making about fit of next step in care, both within the health center–based MH system and in the community.