The Electronic MentalWellness Tool as a Self-Administered Brief Screening Instrument for Mental Disorders in the General Spanish Population during the Post-COVID-19 Era.

Abstract

In the “post-COVID-19 era”, there is a need to focus on properly assessing and addressing the extent of its well-established mental health collateral damage. The “Electronic Mental Wellness Tool” (E-mwTool) is a 13-item validated stepped-care or stratified management instrument that aims at the high-sensitivity captures of individuals with mental health disorders to determine the need for mental health care. This study validated the E-mwTool in a Spanishspeaking population. (2) Methods: It is a cross-sectional validation study using the Mini International Neuropsychiatric Interview as a criterion standard in a sample of 433 participants. (3) Results: About 72% of the sample had a psychiatric disorder, and 67% had a common mental disorder. Severe mental disorders, alcohol use disorders, substance use disorders, and suicide risk had a much lower prevalence rate (6.7%, 6.2%, 3.2%, and 6.2%, respectively). The first three items performed excellently in identifying any mental health disorder with 0.97 sensitivity. Ten additional items classified participants with common mental disorders, severe mental disorders, substance use disorders, and suicide risk. (4) Conclusions: The E-mwTool had high sensitivity in identifying common mental disorders, alcohol and substance use disorders, and suicidal risk. However, the tool’s sensitivity in detecting low-prevalence disorders in the sample was low. This Spanish version may be useful to detect patients at risk of mental health burden at the front line of primary and secondary care in facilitating help-seeking and referral by their physicians.