ACR Meeting Abstracts

ACR Meeting Abstracts

  • Meetings
    • ACR Convergence 2024
    • ACR Convergence 2023
    • 2023 ACR/ARP PRSYM
    • ACR Convergence 2022
    • ACR Convergence 2021
    • ACR Convergence 2020
    • 2020 ACR/ARP PRSYM
    • 2019 ACR/ARP Annual Meeting
    • 2018-2009 Meetings
    • Download Abstracts
  • Keyword Index
  • Advanced Search
  • Your Favorites
    • Favorites
    • Login
    • View and print all favorites
    • Clear all your favorites
  • ACR Meetings

Abstract Number: 089

The Mosaic of Mental Health: Perceived Impact of a Workshop Empowering Pediatric Rheumatology Clinicians in Routine Screening and Effective Management of Mental Health Problems

Tala El Tal1, Kaveh Ardalan2, Natoshia Cunningham3, Megan Curran4, Mariel Dela Paz5, Suzanne Edison6, Michelle Itczak7, Susan Kim8, Alana Goldstein-Leever9, Sharon Lorber1 and Andrea Knight1, 1The Hospital for Sick Children, Toronto, ON, Canada, 2Duke University School of Medicine, Durham, NC, 3Michigan State University, Grand Rapids, MI, 4University of Colorado, Denver, CO, 5UCSF, San Francisco, CA, 6Cure JM Foundation, 7University of Indianapolis, Indianapolis, IN, 8UCSF Benioff Children's Hospital, San Francisco, CA, 9Nationwide Children's Hospital, Columbus, OH

Meeting: 2023 Pediatric Rheumatology Symposium

Keywords: Education, mental health, quality of care

  • Tweet
  • Click to email a link to a friend (Opens in new window) Email
  • Click to print (Opens in new window) Print
Session Information

Date: Thursday, March 30, 2023

Title: Posters: Quality, Health Services, and Education I

Session Type: Poster Session A

Session Time: 6:00PM-7:00PM

Background/Purpose: Mental health (MH) problems, particularly anxiety and depression, are common in children and adolescents with pediatric rheumatologic diseases, and impact disease-related outcomes. Pediatric rheumatology providers often lack training to effectively address these problems. As part of a quality improvement project, we developed a workshop series to equip pediatric rheumatology providers with MH assessment skills and management strategies. We measured participant-reported perceived impact of the workshops on future MH practices.

Methods: Two 2-hour, Continuing Medical Education (CME)-certified virtual workshops were delivered in October 2022. Speakers included 3 pediatric rheumatologists, 2 social workers, 1 parent, 2 psychologists, and 1 art therapist/licensed mental health counselor. The learning objectives were to: 1) recognize the impact of MH for pediatric rheumatology patients, 2) identify early signs/symptoms of anxiety and depression, 3) perform routine screening for anxiety and depression, suicide risk assessment, and safety planning, and 4) understand the role of different MH interventions (e.g., coping strategies, cognitive behavioral therapy, art/play therapy). Each workshop had a 30-minute breakout discussion of participants MH care experience, barriers and facilitators. Participants completed pre- and post-activity surveys using Likert scales to indicate their level of confidence in MH care, and perceived impact of the workshops. Participant demographics were summarized using descriptive statistics, and Likert responses were tabulated.

Results: Eighty participants registered for both workshops from across the world (Canada, Colombia, Italy, Mexico, Spain, United Kingdom, and United States) including 46 physicians (57.5%), 7 nurse practitioners (8.8%), 6 nurses (7.5%), 5 social workers (6.3%), 3 psychologists (3.8%), and 13 others (with roles as physical therapists, physician assistants and administration). Forty-eight percent (n=38) of registered participants attended both workshops. Pre-activity surveys indicated that 97.3% (n=37) of attendees agreed it is important to routinely screen patients for depression and anxiety in rheumatology clinic. The most common cited barriers were limited time, MH resources and funds. While 76% felt at least moderately confident about talking with patients/families about MH, less than half felt at least minimally confident about providing MH resources/guidance (Figure 1). Post-activity surveys showed that 90% and 85% felt that the workshops were effective and increased their competence level, respectively (Figure 2). Anticipated changes in practice included better implementation of MH screening, suicide risk assessment and safety planning.

Conclusion: This data supports the feasibility of a multidisciplinary MH educational workshop series for equipping pediatric rheumatology providers with knowledge and skills to screen and manage MH problems. Further refinement and dissemination of provider educational workshops may improve MH outcomes for youth with pediatric rheumatology diseases.

Supporting image 1Figure 1: Pre-activity survey for participant-reported level of confidence in MH care, n=38

Supporting image 2Figure 2: Post-activity survey for participant-reported feedback on workshop series, n=19


Disclosures: T. El Tal: None; K. Ardalan: None; N. Cunningham: None; M. Curran: None; M. Dela Paz: None; S. Edison: None; M. Itczak: None; S. Kim: None; A. Goldstein-Leever: None; S. Lorber: None; A. Knight: None.

To cite this abstract in AMA style:

El Tal T, Ardalan K, Cunningham N, Curran M, Dela Paz M, Edison S, Itczak M, Kim S, Goldstein-Leever A, Lorber S, Knight A. The Mosaic of Mental Health: Perceived Impact of a Workshop Empowering Pediatric Rheumatology Clinicians in Routine Screening and Effective Management of Mental Health Problems [abstract]. Arthritis Rheumatol. 2023; 75 (suppl 4). https://acrabstracts.org/abstract/the-mosaic-of-mental-health-perceived-impact-of-a-workshop-empowering-pediatric-rheumatology-clinicians-in-routine-screening-and-effective-management-of-mental-health-problems/. Accessed .
  • Tweet
  • Click to email a link to a friend (Opens in new window) Email
  • Click to print (Opens in new window) Print

« Back to 2023 Pediatric Rheumatology Symposium

ACR Meeting Abstracts - https://acrabstracts.org/abstract/the-mosaic-of-mental-health-perceived-impact-of-a-workshop-empowering-pediatric-rheumatology-clinicians-in-routine-screening-and-effective-management-of-mental-health-problems/

Advanced Search

Your Favorites

You can save and print a list of your favorite abstracts during your browser session by clicking the “Favorite” button at the bottom of any abstract. View your favorites »

All abstracts accepted to ACR Convergence are under media embargo once the ACR has notified presenters of their abstract’s acceptance. They may be presented at other meetings or published as manuscripts after this time but should not be discussed in non-scholarly venues or outlets. The following embargo policies are strictly enforced by the ACR.

Accepted abstracts are made available to the public online in advance of the meeting and are published in a special online supplement of our scientific journal, Arthritis & Rheumatology. Information contained in those abstracts may not be released until the abstracts appear online. In an exception to the media embargo, academic institutions, private organizations, and companies with products whose value may be influenced by information contained in an abstract may issue a press release to coincide with the availability of an ACR abstract on the ACR website. However, the ACR continues to require that information that goes beyond that contained in the abstract (e.g., discussion of the abstract done as part of editorial news coverage) is under media embargo until 10:00 AM ET on November 14, 2024. Journalists with access to embargoed information cannot release articles or editorial news coverage before this time. Editorial news coverage is considered original articles/videos developed by employed journalists to report facts, commentary, and subject matter expert quotes in a narrative form using a variety of sources (e.g., research, announcements, press releases, events, etc.).

Violation of this policy may result in the abstract being withdrawn from the meeting and other measures deemed appropriate. Authors are responsible for notifying colleagues, institutions, communications firms, and all other stakeholders related to the development or promotion of the abstract about this policy. If you have questions about the ACR abstract embargo policy, please contact ACR abstracts staff at [email protected].

Wiley

  • Online Journal
  • Privacy Policy
  • Permissions Policies
  • Cookie Preferences

© Copyright 2025 American College of Rheumatology