Professor at George Mason University Martha Kubik recently made international headlines for her role on the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force and its recommendations regarding screening children for anxiety. Kubik, professor at College of Health and Human Services School of Nursingexplains what the task force is doing and why it issued a new recommendation that primary care clinicians screen children ages 8 to 18 for anxiety.
What is the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force?
The task force is an independent, voluntary organization composed of national experts in primary care, disease prevention and evidence-based medicine. Members typically have clinical practice experience in primary care and are nationally recognized for their research and scholarship. Expertise represented on the task force includes nursing, behavioral health, family medicine, geriatrics, internal medicine, pediatrics, obstetrics and gynecology.
The task force’s work is to improve the health of all people across the country by providing evidence-based recommendations for preventive clinical services. These services include screenings, such as mammograms, counseling services, and preventive medications. At the Task Force, we use scientifically rigorous methods to review and evaluate the best available evidence to draw conclusions about the benefits and harms of preventive services, which informs our recommendations.
What is your role within the working group?
I was appointed to the task force in 2018 and will complete my service at the end of 2022. As a public health professional, research scientist, and advanced practice nurse, I appreciated the opportunity to be part of such an important collaborative team effort. It has been an incredible honor and a highlight of my professional career.
As a member of the working group, I am responsible for prioritize preventive services topics, design research plans, review and comment on systematic reviews of evidence, discuss and make recommendations on preventive services, review stakeholder comments, draft final recommendation documents, and participate in groups work on specific topics and methods.
The task force recently released a new recommendation that primary care clinicians should screen children ages 8 to 18 for anxiety. Was this in response to the pandemic?
The working group regularly accepts applications for new topics. Anxiety in children and adolescents has been identified and prioritized given its importance to public health. We started working on this before the pandemic. It takes about three years to fully develop a topic. However, we appreciate the timeliness of this publication in relation to the growing concerns about the mental health of our young people, which have accelerated with the pandemic.
Anxiety, along with depression, are two of the most common mental health problems among young people and often occur together. We were already seeing rates increase in both cases before the pandemic.
The evidence review supported the effectiveness of screening in identifying children and adolescents with anxiety starting at age 8 years. However, for younger children, there was insufficient evidence to recommend or not to screen. This is an area where further research is needed.
At the same time, we have updated our review of the evidence on depression screening and continue to recommend depression screening from age 12.
With these recommendations, primary care clinicians have evidence-based preventative strategies to identify anxiety and depression in older children and adolescents and direct them to the care they need. These are important interventions that can support our young people and improve mental health.
Martha Kubik can be contacted at mkubik@gmu.edu
For more information, contact Anna Stolley Persky at apersky@gmu.edu
About George Mason
George Mason University, Virginia’s largest public research university, serves 39,000 students from 130 countries and all 50 states. Located near Washington, DC, Mason has grown rapidly over the past half-century and is recognized for its innovation and entrepreneurship, remarkable diversity and commitment to accessibility. In 2022, Mason celebrates 50 years as an independent institution. Learn more about www.gmu.edu.
