The HEADS-ED under 6: Piloting a new communimetric mental health and developmental screening and triage tool for young children

Communimetric screening tools help clinicians identify and communicate their patient's areas of need and the corresponding level of action. However, few tools exist to identify mental health (MH) and developmental needs in young children. We aimed to implement and evaluate a new communimetric MH and developmental screening tool for children under 6 (HEADS-ED Under 6) in a community MH agency in Ontario, Canada. Using a prospective cohort design, we explored how intake workers used the HEADS-ED Under 6 screening tool from November 2019 to March 2021. 94.5% of children (n = 535/566) were screened with the HEADS-ED at intake. Total HEADS-ED scores and domains were used to inform the intensity of recommended services. Three clinical domains (Eating & sleeping, Development, speech/language/motor, and Emotions & behaviors) also independently predicted a priority recommendation. The tool showed good concordance with the InterRAI Early Years for children under 4 years old. The HEADS-ED Under 6 was a brief, easy, and valid screening tool, and can be used to identify important MH and developmental domains early, rate level of action/impairment, communicate severity of needs, and help determine intensity of service required.