Mental health needs assessment for youth in out of school programs: A scoping review

Out-of-school programs are an accessible option to bolster the mental well-being of youth, who may be at risk of developing further emotional and behavioural concerns. Developing a more nuanced understanding of the tools and methods available to understand youth mental health needs, in the context of out-of-school programs is needed to provide relevant services. However, many out-of-school programs do not include such an assessment. One barrier to doing so may be a lack of knowledge regarding the tools that can be used in this specialised context. The present scoping review was conducted to identify the tools that have been used to determine the emotional and behavioural needs of youth attending out-of-school programs and to synthesise information regarding the context in which these tools have been used. Fifty-seven articles met the criteria for the review, and within these articles, 69 unique measures of emotional and behavioural needs were identified. The measures were sorted into six thematic categories (self-concept, emotion and behaviour regulation, mood, general mental health, social skills and resilience) and relevant characteristics were described. The findings of the present review may be helpful to out-of-school programs as a step to best meet the needs of participating youth. Please refer to the Supplementary Material section to find this article's Community and Social Impact Statement.