Looked after children often experience greater mental health challenges than children in the general population. Consequently, there has been a call for greater focus on early preventive interventions and priority access to specialist mental health support for them. Brief mental health screening tools often provide the gateway to services and yet there is a lack of suitable assessment tools available for looked after children. The current study is the first to explore the perspectives of foster carers and clinicians working in Child and Adolescent Mental Health Services (CAMHS) in relation to the use of two brief screening tools: the Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire (SDQ) and the Brief Assessment Checklists (BACs). Qualitative data were collected via semi-structured telephone interviews and face-to-face focus groups with 13 female foster carers and 19 clinicians working in a CAMHS setting. Thematic analyses generated six themes which were organised into three superordinate ones centred around: (1) relevance to looked after children; (2) using measures to inform care planning; and (3) current problems when using psychometric measures within the looked after children population. Foster carers and clinicians emphasised the need for a comprehensive understanding of these children given the complexity of their difficulties. There was acknowledgement that psychometric measures could facilitate and contribute to this by highlighting difficulties, providing accurate feedback to carers and clinicians, and enabling access to support. However, both groups seldom felt that current measures were nuanced enough to adequately capture the children’s needs. Yet screening tools play a crucial role in identifying the mental health needs of looked after children and facilitating access to services. Further research is needed to establish the ability of such measures to increase the sensitivity of their complex needs assessment. A number of clinical recommendations are also discussed in relation to the assessment of mental health in this population.

中文翻译：

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“他们不符合盒子里的刻板印象……”：寄养照顾者和临床医生对心理测量工具在被照顾儿童的心理健康评估中的效用的看法

与一般人群中的儿童相比，受照顾的儿童通常会面临更大的心理健康挑战。因此，人们呼吁更加关注早期预防干预和优先为他们提供专业的心理健康支持。简短的心理健康筛查工具通常提供获得服务的途径，但缺乏可用于照顾儿童的合适评估工具。目前的研究首次探讨了在儿童和青少年心理健康服务 (CAMHS) 工作的寄养者和临床医生在使用两种简短筛查工具方面的观点：优势和困难问卷 (SDQ) 和简要评估清单(BAC)。定性数据是通过半结构化电话访谈和面对面焦点小组收集的，其中包括 13 名女性寄养者和 19 名在 CAMHS 环境中工作的临床医生。专题分析产生了六个主题，这些主题分为三个上级主题：（1）与照顾儿童的相关性；(2) 采取措施为护理计划提供信息；(3) 在被照顾的儿童群体中使用心理测量方法时的当前问题。寄养者和临床医生强调，鉴于这些儿童的困难复杂，有必要全面了解他们。人们承认，心理测量可以通过突出困难、向护理人员和临床医生提供准确的反馈以及获得支持来促进和促进这一点。然而，这两个群体都很少认为当前的措施足够细致到足以充分满足儿童的需求。然而，筛查工具在确定被照看儿童的心理健康需求和促进获得服务方面发挥着至关重要的作用。需要进一步研究以确定此类措施的能力，以提高其复杂需求评估的敏感性。还讨论了一些与该人群心理健康评估相关的临床建议。需要进一步研究以确定此类措施的能力，以提高其复杂需求评估的敏感性。还讨论了一些与该人群心理健康评估相关的临床建议。需要进一步研究以确定此类措施的能力，以提高其复杂需求评估的敏感性。还讨论了一些与该人群心理健康评估相关的临床建议。