Psychosocial Screening for Young People in the Acute Setting

• Research type

  Research Study

• Full title

  Psychosocial Screening (HEEADSSS Screening) for Young People in the Acute Setting

• IRAS ID

  246038

• Contact name

  Kate O'Loughlin

• Contact email

  katharine.o'loughlin@nhs.net

• Sponsor organisation

  Medway NHS Foundation Trust

• Duration of Study in the UK

  0 years, 5 months, 2 days

• Research summary

  Psychosocial issues and risk taking behaviours are major causes of morbidity and mortality amongst young people (12-17 years)attending the Emergency Department. Psychosocial screening allows healthcare providers to discuss health and wellbeing concerns to identify early problems in order to offer a timely brief intervention e.g. signposting to relevant statutory or local support services.

  Adopting a motivational approach to the young person empowers them to recognise the importance of their own health wellbeing and identify their own psychosocial concerns in order to equip them with access to relevant services that support their own unique need.

  The HEEASSSS assessment is an internationally used screening tool that is effective in picking up psychosocial concerns and can be performed within 5-10 minutes in the acute setting.

  There has been no research to date to assess the service users' opinion of the perceived benefit and relevance of psychosocial screening when accessing acute medical services.

  This research project will form a feasibility study to assess service user opinion of the HEEADSSS tool by questionnaire study within the Children's Emergency Department at Medway Maritime Hospital.
  Our objectives include:
  1. To understand the service users' opinion on the relevance and suitability of the HEEADSSS tool within the acute setting
  2. To understand how service users would like to be screened for psychosocial concerns; self-screening versus face-to-face healthcare professional screening
  3. To research the local support services available across Kent and Medway to address concerns highlighted in each component of the HEEADSSS tool

• REC name

  London - City & East Research Ethics Committee

• REC reference

  18/LO/1272

• Date of REC Opinion

  18 Jul 2018

• REC opinion

  Favourable Opinion