Overview of Behavioral Health Screening Tools

Course overview

In the United States, an estimated 21% of adults have at least one behavioral health condition in their lifetime (Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration [SAMHSA], 2020). Chronic physical illnesses (e.g., heart disease, cancer, diabetes) affect 60% of people at any given time (Centers for Disease Control [CDC], 2021). These conditions often co-occur; about 37% of individuals with chronic illness experience clinically significant behavioral health issues (Daré et al., 2019). Medical and behavioral health comorbidity mutually affect people's health. For instance, diabetes elevates the risk for depression, and depression acts as a risk factor for type 2 diabetes (American Diabetes Association, 2019). As a provider, you will want to know the ways physical conditions impact behavioral health issues and vice versa. Even in the absence of chronic disease, most people start with their primary care physician when seeking help for psychological issues. Oftentimes, people misattribute psychological symptoms for medical ones. Without direct assessment, necessary behavioral health treatment might not be integrated into a person’s healthcare. Multidisciplinary care coordination among providers prevents important symptoms from being overlooked, misdiagnosis, and treatment plans that inadvertently worsen conditions. Consequently, it is best to comprehensively address co-occurring medical and behavioral health conditions through integrated or client-centered collaborative care models (American Psychiatric Association [APA], 2021a; Rocks et al., 2020). You may or may not work in one of these settings. Regardless of discipline or setting, routine behavioral health screening will allow you to provide the best care possible. This course will provide a review of some of the most widely used behavioral health screening tools currently available to support collaborative care. In addition, we will explore important factors for consideration when integrating such screening tools into the workflow of your practice. The goal of this course is to provide addictions, behavioral health counseling, marriage and family therapy, nursing, psychology, and social work professionals in community health settings with information on how to screen clients for behavioral health conditions.