New Youth Mental Health Assessment Offers Providers a Solution for Monitoring Children's Mental Health

WAYNE, Pa., May 2, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- Tridiuum has announced the national application of its youth-focused mental health assessment tool, Youth MH, with the potential to serve thousands of patients across the country. Developed with guidance from distinguished child psychologists, the assessment tool fills a much-needed gap for an automated mental health assessment for youth ages 5-17 years old.

Implemented in a pediatric or mental health specialist's office, Youth MH collects patient intake data and responses to behavioral health questions to provide practitioners with valuable information that can have a lasting impact on patient health. According to the National Institute of Mental Health, over 20 percent of youth aged 13 – 18 experience a severe mental health disorder during their lives. Health and social issues covered in Youth MH include: depression, anxiety, anger, suicide risk, substance use, guns at home, functioning, overall well-being, and therapeutic alliance. Gathering the data in these domains offers providers and parents a clearer path towards treatment.

"Research has shown that with early detection and intervention, the lives of individuals with a mental health disorder can be dramatically improved," said Tridiuum Chief Executive Officer Mark Redlus. "When it comes to the lives of children, anything that we can do to identify and prevent the escalation of symptoms is a meaningful accomplishment."

In Youth MH, both the children aged 8-17 and their parent/guardian complete the assessment. Real-time provider reports include graphs comparing their responses. A parent or guardian of children under eight years of age completes the assessment on behalf of the child. After the data is collected and the assessment normed, a youth behavioral health index (BHI) score and expected treatment response (ETR) curve is developed. The BHI is a composite metric based on the patient's responses to the assessment, and the ETR is a predictive model based on the patient's intake assessment indicating their anticipated progress across the course of treatment. BHI scores are then plotted against the ETR at each visit for a quick visual of how the patient is progressing compared to how they are expected to progress.

"We have found with our adult mental health product that the ETR is extremely useful for not only tracking patient's progress and modifying treatment plans, but also engaging the patient in their own treatment, thus improving overall clinical effectiveness," noted Vice President of Clinical Science, Tina Harralson, PhD. "When providers can easily track the BHI over time, it opens up the door to managing risk factors, understanding patient progress and further refining treatment to achieve better responses, adherence, and a more stable life."

For a young person with mental health symptoms, the earlier that treatment is started, the more effective it can be. Youth MH represents a critical tool in identifying, tracking, and helping to manage care that can help prevent more severe, lasting problems as young people grow up.

About Tridiuum
Tridiuum is a technology-based behavioral health company that has leveraged 20 years of clinical research and more than $17 million in NIH funding to develop a predictive, web-based analytics and treatment platform, Tridiuum1. This industry-leading software has helped more than 1.1 million patients achieve prompt and dramatic improvement across a wide range of conditions; including depression, anxiety, substance use, PTSD, suicide risk and other mental health disorders.

Headquartered in Wayne, Pennsylvania, Tridiuum is led by a nationally recognized team of experts in behavioral medicine, software engineering, digital health technologies, health insurance and behavioral clinical research. Tridiuum research and findings have been published in more than 30 peer-reviewed journals and scientific publications.

Tridiuum's products are deployed from coast-to-coast across leading health care systems, embedded in hundreds of clinical environments, helping improve the health of at-risk patients. For more information, visit www.tridiuum.com.

SOURCE Tridiuum

Related Links

http://www.tridiuum.com