Mental Health Screening Using the Kessler Psychological Distress Scale (Research Paper Sample)

Mental Health Screening Tool
Name:
Institutional Affiliation:
Mental Health Screening Tool
Introduction
A mental health screening tool is a tool used by mental health professionals to assess and diagnose an individual’s state of mental health. Mental health tools are also used to identify the signs and symptoms of mental disorder and psychological distress. The Kessler Psychological Distress Scale (K10) is one of the mental health tools that is often used to assess psychological stress levels of an individual (Qiang Ren et al., 2021). The tool was developed by Kessler R. a professor or Health Care Policy at Havard Medical School, Boston, USA. The K10 tool is one of the most effective tools for assessing one’s mental health. It assesses the anxiety and depressive symptoms of an individual as a measure of either psychological wellbeing or distress. K10 comes from the questions used to assess an individual’s state of mental health. The tool utilizes a total of 10 questions to gauge the levels of psychological distress in an individual.
Discussion of Tool
The mental health tool is used to assess the mental health state of an individual. It is also used to identify the signs or symptoms of psychological disorders or distress. The screening tools are utilized by qualified mental health professionals to diagnose a patient or person displaying signs or symptoms of mental health issues (Melnyk & Lusk, 2021). It is also used by clinicians in developing a better understanding of an individual’s mental health state and to guide the conditions of treatment. However, there are not meant to be diagnostic but are only used to show areas of concern in a person’s mental state. The tools are used as a guide for mental health professionals to make informed decisions on the treatment for various psychological disorders or mental health issues displayed by an individual.
The Kessler Psychological Distress Scale (K10) is one of the most commonly used mental health screening tool. The tool is preferred by most mental health professionals because of it is easy to interpret its results (Qiang Ren et al., 2021).