The development of a nutrition screening tool for mental health settings prone to obesity and cardiometabolic complications: Study protocol for the NutriMental screener

Patients suffering from serious mental illnesses (SMI) have higher odds of physical health complications compared to the general population, with unhealthy dietary habits and disorganized nutritional patterns at the top of the etiological reasons. Currently available nutrition-risk screening tools are not optimized for use in mental health services, and there are no definitive mental health services-focused nutritional risk screening tools available. Teasdale et al. (2021) present their works in this paper, outlining the principle and methodology behind developing and authenticating the NutriMental screener, a screening tool suitable for use in clinical settings to discern at-risk mental illness populations experiencing dietary and nutritional concerns, in order to expedite referral to specialized clinical care. NutriMental screener emerged through five developmental phases: Phase 1 – expansion on nutrition-related domains of interest from other screening tools used in mental illnesses, Phase 2 – review of literature and interviews to help recognize further domains of interest, Phase 3 – consorting with clinicians and SMI patients to establish accord on screener’s questionnaire, Phase 4 – Screener underwent multinational feasibility and preliminary validation studies, and finally, Phase 5 – Screener was tested in formal validation studies. The authors comment that producing a nutrition-risk screening tool for mental health services is critical to correcting the disproportionate care and gaps in life expectancy experienced by individuals suffering from SMI. [NPID: Diet, eating, mental disorders, mental health, mental illness, nutrition, nutrition screening, nutritional psychiatry]

Year: 2021

Reference: Teasdale, S.B.; Moerkl, S.; Moetteli, S.; Mueller-Stierlin, A. The Development of a Nutrition Screening Tool for Mental Health Settings Prone to Obesity and Cardiometabolic Complications: Study Protocol for the NutriMental Screener. Int. J. Environ. Res. Public Health 2021, 18, 11269. https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph182111269

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