Development and Validation of School Adolescents Mental health Assessment Tool (SAMAT)
Background: Teachers are the first line of contact for children for any concerns. They are crucial in identifying all health issues, including mental health issues. However, the teachers may not have adequate knowledge of the concerns with children’s and adolescents’ mental health in schools. School...
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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Wolters Kluwer Medknow Publications
2025-04-01
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| Series: | Journal of Family Medicine and Primary Care |
| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | https://journals.lww.com/10.4103/jfmpc.jfmpc_1779_24 |
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| author | Radhakrishnan Govindan G Balamurugan T M Deekshitha R Tejashwini Prasanthi Nattala Rajani Parthasarathi K. M. Rajendra Channaveerachari N. Kumar |
| author_facet | Radhakrishnan Govindan G Balamurugan T M Deekshitha R Tejashwini Prasanthi Nattala Rajani Parthasarathi K. M. Rajendra Channaveerachari N. Kumar |
| author_sort | Radhakrishnan Govindan |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Background:
Teachers are the first line of contact for children for any concerns. They are crucial in identifying all health issues, including mental health issues. However, the teachers may not have adequate knowledge of the concerns with children’s and adolescents’ mental health in schools. School enrollments have grown in India at every level, from primary to higher secondary, and school dropout rates have steadily declined in recent years. In parallel, from the 2013 fiscal year to 2022, the pupil–teacher ratio consistently improved at all levels. Hence, school teachers play a vital role in students’ mental health. The study aims to create a tool teachers may use to screen, identify, refer, and follow-up with adolescents’ mental health enrolled in classes.
Materials and Methods:
The present study was carried out in four phases: literature search, focused group discussions with teachers, development and validation of SAMAT. The number of teachers is 110.
Results:
The School Adolescents Mental Health Assessment Tool has ten items derived from the thematic analysis of the literature review, focused group discussions with teachers during the training session about general mental health awareness and adolescents’ mental health concerns and inputs from 5 mental health professionals. The instrument displayed a high content validity index (S-CVI = 1) and high item-level content validity index (I-CVI: 1). Reliability was calculated using the Cronbach alpha reliability method.
Conclusion:
SAMAT has high I-CVI and S-CVI and good Cronbach alpha reliability. This tool will support educators in formally evaluating pupils by assisting with the screening, identification, initial mental health support, referral, and follow-up of adolescents with mental health concerns. |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj-art-c18d3de296b1446899f56ff10342abe0 |
| institution | OA Journals |
| issn | 2249-4863 2278-7135 |
| language | English |
| publishDate | 2025-04-01 |
| publisher | Wolters Kluwer Medknow Publications |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Journal of Family Medicine and Primary Care |
| spelling | doaj-art-c18d3de296b1446899f56ff10342abe02025-08-20T02:14:11ZengWolters Kluwer Medknow PublicationsJournal of Family Medicine and Primary Care2249-48632278-71352025-04-011441448145410.4103/jfmpc.jfmpc_1779_24Development and Validation of School Adolescents Mental health Assessment Tool (SAMAT)Radhakrishnan GovindanG BalamuruganT M DeekshithaR TejashwiniPrasanthi NattalaRajani ParthasarathiK. M. RajendraChannaveerachari N. KumarBackground: Teachers are the first line of contact for children for any concerns. They are crucial in identifying all health issues, including mental health issues. However, the teachers may not have adequate knowledge of the concerns with children’s and adolescents’ mental health in schools. School enrollments have grown in India at every level, from primary to higher secondary, and school dropout rates have steadily declined in recent years. In parallel, from the 2013 fiscal year to 2022, the pupil–teacher ratio consistently improved at all levels. Hence, school teachers play a vital role in students’ mental health. The study aims to create a tool teachers may use to screen, identify, refer, and follow-up with adolescents’ mental health enrolled in classes. Materials and Methods: The present study was carried out in four phases: literature search, focused group discussions with teachers, development and validation of SAMAT. The number of teachers is 110. Results: The School Adolescents Mental Health Assessment Tool has ten items derived from the thematic analysis of the literature review, focused group discussions with teachers during the training session about general mental health awareness and adolescents’ mental health concerns and inputs from 5 mental health professionals. The instrument displayed a high content validity index (S-CVI = 1) and high item-level content validity index (I-CVI: 1). Reliability was calculated using the Cronbach alpha reliability method. Conclusion: SAMAT has high I-CVI and S-CVI and good Cronbach alpha reliability. This tool will support educators in formally evaluating pupils by assisting with the screening, identification, initial mental health support, referral, and follow-up of adolescents with mental health concerns.https://journals.lww.com/10.4103/jfmpc.jfmpc_1779_24adolescentsmental healthscreeningteacherstools |
| spellingShingle | Radhakrishnan Govindan G Balamurugan T M Deekshitha R Tejashwini Prasanthi Nattala Rajani Parthasarathi K. M. Rajendra Channaveerachari N. Kumar Development and Validation of School Adolescents Mental health Assessment Tool (SAMAT) Journal of Family Medicine and Primary Care adolescents mental health screening teachers tools |
| title | Development and Validation of School Adolescents Mental health Assessment Tool (SAMAT) |
| title_full | Development and Validation of School Adolescents Mental health Assessment Tool (SAMAT) |
| title_fullStr | Development and Validation of School Adolescents Mental health Assessment Tool (SAMAT) |
| title_full_unstemmed | Development and Validation of School Adolescents Mental health Assessment Tool (SAMAT) |
| title_short | Development and Validation of School Adolescents Mental health Assessment Tool (SAMAT) |
| title_sort | development and validation of school adolescents mental health assessment tool samat |
| topic | adolescents mental health screening teachers tools |
| url | https://journals.lww.com/10.4103/jfmpc.jfmpc_1779_24 |
| work_keys_str_mv | AT radhakrishnangovindan developmentandvalidationofschooladolescentsmentalhealthassessmenttoolsamat AT gbalamurugan developmentandvalidationofschooladolescentsmentalhealthassessmenttoolsamat AT tmdeekshitha developmentandvalidationofschooladolescentsmentalhealthassessmenttoolsamat AT rtejashwini developmentandvalidationofschooladolescentsmentalhealthassessmenttoolsamat AT prasanthinattala developmentandvalidationofschooladolescentsmentalhealthassessmenttoolsamat AT rajaniparthasarathi developmentandvalidationofschooladolescentsmentalhealthassessmenttoolsamat AT kmrajendra developmentandvalidationofschooladolescentsmentalhealthassessmenttoolsamat AT channaveeracharinkumar developmentandvalidationofschooladolescentsmentalhealthassessmenttoolsamat |