Comprehensive Screening and Counseling for Behavioral Risks in Adolescent Primary Care
A new article in Pediatrics entitled, Improvement in Adolescent Screening and Counseling Rates for Risk Behaviors and Developmental Tasks by Duncan, Frankowski, Carey, Kallock, Delaney, Dixon, Garcia, and Shaw reports on a modified Breakthrough Series Collaborative in which eight primary care practices were trained to implement comprehensive screening and counseling for risk behaviors and developmental tasks/strengths and to increase the rate of brief office intervention and referral. Pre to post-intervention screening and counseling for risk behavior and developmental tasks/strengths doubled in many cases. The authors discuss the importance of empowering primary care practices with the tools and the means to provide adolescents with comprehensive screening and counseling and informed mental health referral when necessary.