Adolescent Idiopathic Scoliosis and Mental Health
Adolescent Idiopathic Scoliosis and Mental Health
The purpose of this pilot study is to determine the presence, frequency, and severity of
 mental health disorders amongst adolescents undergoing spinal surgery for scoliosis.
This study is a cross-sectional pilot study investigating the prevalence of psychiatric
 illness at various time points in the course of treatment of AIS. Three independent sets of
 questionnaires will be administered during a single scheduled clinical visit. There will be
 no clinical visits for the exclusive purpose of completing questionnaires. The first
 questionnaire will be the SRS outcome instrument. The second questionnaire will be the
 Achenbach YSR, completed by the adolescents, and the parents will be asked to complete the
 CBCL. Finally, a generic outcome measure specific to children and adolescents, the Pediatric
 Outcome Data Collection Instrument, will be administered. The time requirement to complete
 these questionnaires is anticipated to be approximately 45 minutes. The Achenbach
 questionnaires will be scored promptly after each is completed using the provided scoring
 templates. This data will be used to identify those at risk and make appropriate resources
 available. This would provide appropriate care for adolescents at high risk of mental health
 disorder by identifying those at risk via a non-invasive screening tool.
Inclusion Criteria:

 -  All patients diagnosed with AIS, between the ages of eleven and sixteen, who are
 scheduled to undergo surgical intervention, will be eligible to participate in the
 study. The patient and one parent will be required to complete the questionnaires in
 their entirety at the predetermined time points. There are several different methods
 of surgical intervention for AIS, however there will be no selection on the basis of
 the type of intervention. Curve pattern and severity will, similarly, not be used as
 inclusion criteria.

 Exclusion Criteria:

 -  All types of scoliosis besides AIS will be excluded. This includes neuromuscular,
 congenital, infantile idiopathic, and childhood idiopathic scoliosis.

 -  Children younger than eleven years or older than sixteen years will be excluded.

 -  Those with additional chronic disease will be excluded, due to the possibility of
 confounding.

 -  Those unable to complete the entire questionnaire, for any reason, or those unable to
 complete the questionnaires at each time point will be excluded.

 -  Existence of psychiatric disorder prior to treatment will not be cause for exclusion
 from the study.