AUTHOR=Iorfino Frank , Cheng Vanessa Wan Sze , Cross Shane P. , Yee Hannah F. , Davenport Tracey A. , Scott Elizabeth M. , Hickie Ian B. TITLE=Right Care, First Time: Developing a Theory-Based Automated Protocol to Help Clinically Stage Young People Based on Severity and Persistence of Mental Illness JOURNAL=Frontiers in Public Health VOLUME=9 YEAR=2021 URL=https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/public-health/articles/10.3389/fpubh.2021.621862 DOI=10.3389/fpubh.2021.621862 ISSN=2296-2565 ABSTRACT=

Most mental disorders emerge before the age of 25 years and, if left untreated, have the potential to lead to considerable lifetime burden of disease. Many services struggle to manage high demand and have difficulty matching individuals to timely interventions due to the heterogeneity of disorders. The technological implementation of clinical staging for youth mental health may assist the early detection and treatment of mental disorders. We describe the development of a theory-based automated protocol to facilitate the initial clinical staging process, its intended use, and strategies for protocol validation and refinement. The automated clinical staging protocol leverages the clinical validation and evidence base of the staging model to improve its standardization, scalability, and utility by deploying it using Health Information Technologies (HIT). Its use has the potential to enhance clinical decision-making and transform existing care pathways, but further validation and evaluation of the tool in real-world settings is needed.