Common Mental Health Disorders Essay Example Paper

Your discussion post offers an informative analysis of (Revised Child Anxiety and Depression Scale) RCADS as a pediatric mental health screening tool. I like that that you present the context in which RCADS is used, noting that it is a consistent and reliable instrument for evaluating anxiety and depression in pediatric population. In addition, I like that you describe RCADS, reporting that it is a self-reported questionnaire that can be completed by either the child or parent. Besides that, I like that you identify the range of mental health disorders that RCADs can evaluate to include Major Depressive Disorder (MDD), Panic Disorder, Social Phobia, Generalized Anxiety Disorder (GAD), Separation Anxiety Disorder (SAD), and Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder (OCD). Additionally, I like that you identify the two versions of RCADS, the short version with 25 items and the long version with 47 items. Furthermore, I like that you explore scoring and interpretation for RCADS, looking at the use of Likert scale, calculation and use of standard T-scale based on gender and grade level. Moreover, I like that you determine that RCADS is used for evaluation in identifying the need for therapy, as well as in guiding and evaluating treatment progress Common Mental Health Disorders Essay Example Paper.

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While your discussion post is informative, I think that it can be improved by including two points. First, there is a need to mention the shorter version of RCADS with 11 items. This is a revised RCADS that is highly recommended for being sensitive and specific with comparable values to the longer 47-item RCADS. This shorter revised version is important for quickly and accurately identifying and evaluating anxiety and depression symptoms (Radez et al., 2021). Second, there is a need to discuss whether RCADS can maintain its validity and reliability when applied in different settings. Cervin et al. (2022) reveals that RCADS shows good model/data fit in different countries, has excellent internal consistency and multi-group confirmatory factor analysis supported scalar invariance across countries. Overall, your discussion post on RCADS as a pediatric mental health screening tool is well presented, but could be improved by including the two mentioned points.

References

Cervin, M., Veas, A., Piqueras, J. A., & Martinez-Gonzalez, A. E. (2022). A multi-group confirmatory factor analysis of the revised children’s anxiety and depression scale (RCADS) in Spain, Chile and Sweden. Journal of Affective Disorders, 310, 228-234. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jad.2022.05.031

Radez, J., Waite, P., Chorpita, B., Creswell, C., Orchard, F., Percy, R., Spence, S. H., & Reardon, T. (2021). Using the 11-item version of the RCADS to identify anxiety and depressive disorders in adolescents. Research on Child and Adolescent Psychopathology, 49(9), 1241–1257. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10802-021-00817-w

Common Mental Health Disorders Essay Example Paper

Respond to this peer discussion board post Pediatric Health DB 4: Pediatric Mental Health Screening Tool Anxiety and depression are two of the most common mental health disorders in children and adolescents. One of the most widely used screening tools used to assess for symptoms of anxiety and depression is the Revised Child Anxiety and Depression Scale (RCADS). It has proven to be a consistent and reliable instrument in a variety of settings, cultures, and languages. It also has the advantage of providing more information with fewer items as compared to other tools to evaluate anxiety and depression (Piqueras et al., 2017). The RCADS is a self-reported questionnaire completed by either the child or the parent, and it assesses for symptoms related to Major Depressive Disorder (MDD), Panic Disorder, Social Phobia, Generalized Anxiety Disorder (GAD), Separation Anxiety Disorder (SAD), and Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder (OCD). It comes in two versions the RCADS-25 (short) and the RCADS-47 (long). The RCADS tool is intended for children and adolescents 8-18 years old. It can be completed by a child with a third-grade education level or by an adult on behalf of the child. The long version of the RCADS is the most widely used and can be broken down into six subcategories to assess for both anxiety and depression as often time they occur simultaneously. The 47 item questionnaire takes about 10-15 minutes to complete. The short version was designed to be completed in less time with only 25 items but does have limitations (UCLA Department of Psycology, 2022). Scoring of the RCADS is based on the subcategories of anxiety and depression listed above. Each has a set number of items that are given a score based upon the response of never (0), sometimes (1), often (2), or always (3). The sum is calculated by category and then converted into a standard T-scale based on gender and grade level. This can be accomplished by utilizing a conversion table provided by Child First Lab or manually using programs designed by the developers in excel, or auto-calculated by an integrated electronic system used by some institutions. A T-score <65 is considered normal range and no treatment referral is indicated unless clinical judgment overrules. 65-69 is in the borderline clinical range; 6% of youth fall into this range and referral would be based on further assessment and the provider’s clinical judgment. T-score >70 is in the clinical range; 2% of the youth population falls into this range, and referral would definitely be indicated (UCLA Department of Psycology, 2022). The RCADS can be used not only as a tool to evaluate for the necessity of therapy, but it can also help guide and evaluate the treatment progress. References Piqueras, J. A., Vivar, M. M., Sandin, B., Luis, C. S., & Pineda, D. (2017, August 15). The Revised Child Anxiety and Depression Scale: A systematic review and reliability generalization meta-analysis. The Journal of Affective Disorders, 218, 153-169. Retrieved from https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jad.2017.04.022 UCLA Department of Psycology. (2022, updated January 22). RCADS User Guide. Retrieved from Child F.I.R.S.T (Focus on Innovation and Redesign in Systems and Treatment): https://www.childfirst.ucla.edu/resources/ Common Mental Health Disorders Essay Example Paper