The Child and Youth Mental Health Assessment (ChYMH): An examination of the psychometric properties of an integrated assessment developed for clinically referred children and youth

Shannon L Stewart,Chloe A Hamza

doi:10.1186/s12913-016-1970-9

Abstract

BackgroundThe Child and Youth Mental Health (ChYMH) assessment system was developed by interRAI (i.e., an international collective of researchers and clinicians from over thirty countries) in response to the unprecedented need for a coordinated approach to delivery of children’s mental health care. Many interRAI instruments are used across Canada and internationally, but the ChYMH represents the first assessment specifically for children and youth. In the present paper, a short overview of the development process of the ChYMH is provided, and then the psychometric properties of several embedded scales on the ChYMH are examined.MethodsParticipants included 1297 children and youth and their families who completed the ChYMH after being referred to mental health agencies within Ontario, Canada. In addition, smaller subsets of participants (N = 48–53) completed additional criterion measures, including the Social Skills Improvement System (SSIS), the Child and Adolescent Functional Assessment Scale (CAFAS), the Child Behavior Checklist (CBCL), and the Brief Child and Family Phone Interview (BCFPI).ResultsResults demonstrated that the ChYMH subscales had strong internal-consistency (Cronbach’s higher than .70), and correlated well with the criterion measures.ConclusionsFindings support the clinical utility of the ChYMH for use among clinically referred children and youth. Implications for children’s mental health assessment and practice are discussed.

Highlights

The Child and Youth Mental Health (ChYMH) assessment system was developed by interRAI in response to the unprecedented need for a coordinated approach to delivery of children’s mental health care
In 2006, the Ontario Ministry of Health and Long-Term Care mandated the use of the interRAI Resident Assessment Instrument-Mental Health (RAI-MH), given its ability to provide a comprehensive assessment of adult mental health needs, and support evidenced-based care planning across service settings
The strongest correlations were between the ChYMH Depressive Symptoms Scale and the criterion scales of the Child Behavior Checklist (CBCL) anxious/depressed scale (r = .61), Brief Child and Family Phone Interview (BCFPI) Managing mood and self-harm scale (r = .61), and the Skills Improvement System (SSIS) Internalizing behavior scale (r = .60)

Summary

Introduction

The Child and Youth Mental Health (ChYMH) assessment system was developed by interRAI (i.e., an international collective of researchers and clinicians from over thirty countries) in response to the unprecedented need for a coordinated approach to delivery of children’s mental health care. The call to develop an effective information system that provides a comprehensive, scientifically rigorous approach to mental health assessments led to the Resident Assessment Instrument-Mental Health (RAI-MH) This instrument was developed by interRAI (i.e., an international not-for-profit collective of researchers and clinicians from over thirty countries committed to improving the care of vulnerable persons through a seamless approach to assessment across a variety of service sectors) in collaboration with the Ontario Joint Policy and Planning Committee [15]. The assessment has been used for the purposes of outcome measurement, quality improvement, and case-mix, and compliments interRAI’s existing suite of instruments for use across a variety of service sectors (e.g., home care, acute care, long-term care, etc.)

Results

Discussion

Conclusion