Pediatric rheumatology clinician practices and beliefs regarding mental healthcare of adolescents with SLE (n = 119).
| Variables | n (%) |
|---|---|
| Current practices | |
| Adequate identification of patients with depression/anxiety symptoms | |
| Yes | 57 (48) |
| Adequate connection of symptomatic patients to further mental health evaluation/treatment | |
| Yes | 65 (55) |
| Informal depression/anxiety screening* | |
| Routinely in all patients | 65 (55) |
| Only in symptomatic patients | 51 (43) |
| None | 2 (2) |
| Formal depression/anxiety screening* | |
| Routinely in all patients | 2 (2) |
| Only in symptomatic patients | 7 (6) |
| None | 106 (89) |
| No. on-site referrals to mental health professionals* | |
| 0 | 28 (24) |
| 1–5 | 87 (74) |
| > 5 | 3 (3) |
| No. off-site referrals to mental health professionals* | |
| 0 | 35 (31) |
| 1–5 | 72 (64) |
| > 5 | 6 (5) |
| No. respondents prescribing psychotropic medications for depression/anxiety | 15 (13) |
| Beliefs | |
| Preferred rheumatology staff for identifying patients with depression/anxiety | |
| Attending | 78 (66) |
| Fellow | 69 (58) |
| Nurse practitioner | 61 (51) |
| Physician assistant | 31 (26) |
| Nurse | 63 (53) |
| Other** | 9 (8) |
| No. in support of routine screening for: | |
| Depression, mos | 101 (85) |
| Every 0–3 | 15 (15) |
| Every 3–6 | 49 (49) |
| Every 6–12 | 31 (31) |
| Less than once a yr | 6 (6) |
| Anxiety*, mos | 77 (65) |
| Every 0–3 | 10 (13) |
| Every 3–6 | 36 (47) |
| Every 6–12 | 26 (34) |
| Less than once a yr | 5 (6) |
| Preferred settings for depression/anxiety screening | |
| Rheumatology clinic | 92 (77) |
| Primary care office | 67 (56) |
| During hospitalizations | 36 (30) |
| In the emergency room | 21 (18) |
| Preferred settings for evaluation of patients screening positive by a mental health professional | |
| Rheumatology office | 22 (18) |
| Primary care office | 41 (34) |
| Psychologist/psychiatrist office | 119 (100) |
| School | 30 (25) |
| Other*** | 4 (3) |
| Level of interest in training for evaluation of adolescent mental health | |
| Not interested | 11 (9) |
| Somewhat interested | 67 (56) |
| Very interested | 41 (35) |
| Level of interest in training for pharmacologic treatment of adolescent mental health conditions | |
| Not interested | 41 (34) |
| Somewhat interested | 56 (48) |
| Very interested | 21 (18) |
↵* Observations were missing (n) as follows: informal depression/anxiety screening (1), formal depression/anxiety screening (4), routine screening for anxiety (11), number of on-site referrals (1), number of off-site referrals (6), high accessibility of on-site staff (4).
↵** Specific responses for “Other” were social worker (6), psychologist (2), and none (1).
↵*** Specific responses for “Other” were emergency room (2), medical social worker (1), and home (1). SLE: systemic lupus erythematosus.