Special Considerations in the Systematic Psychosocial Screening of Youth with Type 1 Diabetes

Abstract Objective The American Diabetes Association recommends psychosocial screening for individuals with type 1 diabetes (T1D). The purpose of this study is to present (a) several high priority decisions that program developers may encounter when building a new psychosocial screening program and (b) both the screening development process and results of one mental health screening program within a multidisciplinary pediatric diabetes clinic, with particular emphasis on parent-youth screening agreement and changes to elevation status over time. Methods Youth with T1D ages 12–17 and parents of youth with T1D ages 8–17 were administered mental health screeners as a part of outpatient diabetes visits over a 1-year period. Youth depression and anxiety were screened using self- and parent proxy-report versions of the Patient-Reported Outcomes Measurement Information System (PROMIS). Results Youth (n = 154) and parents (n = 211) completed mental health screening measures, such that 228 youth were screened. Intraclass correlation coefficients (ICCs) between youth- and parent proxy-report agreement were good for the measures of depression (ICC = .787) and anxiety (ICC = .781), with parent proxy-reports significantly higher than youth self-reports of anxiety (p