Acceptability of electronic screener YouthCHAT for young people and its comparison with HEEADSSS

New Zealand has unacceptably high rates of teenage suicide and psychological problems. We're developing new ways of detecting this early so we can better treat young people.

Clinician: Hiran Thabrew, Starship Consult Liaison

What: Improving the identification of depression, anxiety and other psychological problems in young people through IT innovation.

Who: Participants will include children attending Starship and Year 9 Tamaki High School students.

How: This study involves further improving, testing and evaluating YouthCHAT a locally developed, iPad based screening tool for psychological problems, comparing its effectiveness against the current, more time-consuming, interview based assessment.

Why: New Zealand has incredibly high rates of teenage suicide and psychosocial problems such as depression, anxiety and substance abuse are common and burdensome in young people, particularly those with long-term physical conditions such asthma and diabetes.

YouthCHAT has the potential to be a more accessible, easier to use, screening tool which could drastically improve the detection of depression and other common psychological health issues in young people.  Ultimately lives could be saved; thanks to better detection, allowing treatment to be provided in a timely and appropriate way.

Citation: Ministry of Social Development. The Social Report 2016.