Mental Health Screening: Recommendations from an Integrated Literature Review

School-based, multiple gate mental health screening has been identified as a major component of social, emotional, and behavioral systems of support models, and a promising practice that can be used to address unmet mental health needs of children and adolescents. To better inform implementation of multiple gate screening programs, we completed an integrated literature review based on a review of 38 school-based screening studies identified through a systematic review process. The focus of the review was on effective and ineffective screening strategies – and general screening considerations – presented in the identified studies. Considerations and implementation strategies related to mental health screening in schools, including issues related to consent and student participation, screening measures, how to integrate screening into school programs, how to manage suicide risk screening, and how to support students after screening are discussed. Considerations for future research are also discussed. Multiple-stage school-based mental health screening can improve identification of mental health needs and access to mental health services. However, special consideration must be given to implementing screening, and additional areas of research are needed to further our knowledge and practice recommendations in this area.