Facilitated Referral for Children Screening Positive for Mental Illness

Facilitated Referral for Children Screening Positive for Mental Illness in the Pediatric Emergency Department and Readiness to Seek Care

The purpose of this study is to find out how prevalent unidentified Mental Health issues are in the pediatric population that visits the Emergency Department in an urban city.

The purpose of this research study is to find out how many children in the Emergency Room have emotional issues and how many of them go unnoticed. In particular the study looks at how well a questionnaire for children and teenagers, the DISC Predictive Scales, Version IV (DPS-IV) works and what is the best way to ask the questions. In addition, for children aged 9-17 this study will look at families' readiness to seek care when a problem is indicated.

Inclusion Criteria:

• Child Must be With Biological Mother
• Child Presenting to Emergency Department with an Urgent But Stable condition
• Child must be between the ages of 6 years and 18 years
• Child must have no prior history of Behavioral Health concerns or diagnoses

Exclusion Criteria:

• Child has prior Behavioral Health history, diagnosis, or concerns
• Child not between ages of 6 years and 18 years of ages
• Child presenting without Biological Mother present
• Child acuity level outside of Urgent But Stable for presenting complaints