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Methodology: How MindCheck Tools Works

Last updated: 2026-04-29. Reviewed by Jason Ramirez, CADC-II.

Important: Screeners on this site are educational. They are not diagnostic instruments and they do not replace evaluation by a qualified clinician. If you are in crisis, call or text 988 in the United States, text HOME to 741741, or call SAMHSA at 1-800-662-4357.

Why this page exists

Mental health screening is a high-stakes context. People who reach this site are often worried about themselves or someone they love. They deserve to know exactly what they are using, who reviewed it, and what the limits are. This page documents the standards every screening tool on MindCheck Tools is held to before it goes live.

How instruments are selected

A screening instrument only makes it onto MindCheck Tools if it meets all of the following criteria:

  • Peer-reviewed validation. The instrument has at least one validation study published in a peer-reviewed journal, with reported sensitivity and specificity in a defined population.
  • Established use. It is in active clinical or research use, cited in published guidelines, or distributed by a credible body such as the developing authors, a professional association, or a public agency.
  • Permissive licensing. The instrument is in the public domain, released under a free-use license by the developers, or otherwise permitted for non-commercial public-facing screening use. Items requiring a paid license are not hosted.
  • Traceable source. The original publication can be cited and, where possible, linked to PubMed. The full citation is documented on the clinical evidence page.

How scoring is preserved

The items, response options, and scoring algorithm of each instrument are reproduced as published. Wording, item order, response anchors, reverse-scored items, and threshold cutoffs are kept faithful to the source paper or the developer-distributed version. The site does not shorten validated instruments, swap items, alter the response scale, or invent new severity bands.

Where multiple recognized cutoffs exist (for example, the AUDIT cutoff of 8 versus 7 for women and adults over 65, or the PHQ-9 cutoff of 10 versus DSM-based algorithms), the site reports the cutoff used and notes the alternatives. Score interpretation pages describe what each band means in plain language without converting a screening score into a diagnosis.

How your responses are handled

Screeners run in your browser. Your answers are scored on the device you are using. The site does not transmit your individual responses to any server, does not store them in a database, and does not require an account to use any tool. Closing the page or reloading it discards the responses unless a tool offers an explicit local-save option, in which case the data stays in your own browser storage.

No health-related answers from any screener on this site are sent to advertising networks, social platforms, or third-party trackers. Aggregate site analytics, where present, are limited to standard page metrics and never include the content of your responses.

The clinical reviewer

All screening tools and their accompanying score interpretation pages are reviewed by Jason Ramirez, CADC-II, a Certified Drug and Alcohol Counselor with 11 years of clinical experience in substance use and mental health counseling. The review checks that items match the published instrument, that the scoring and bands match the source paper, that the language used to describe results stays educational rather than diagnostic, and that crisis resources are present where they are needed.

Clinical review does not turn an educational screener into a diagnostic test. It is a quality control step on top of source fidelity, not a substitute for evaluation by your own clinician.

What MindCheck Tools is not

  • It is not a diagnostic service. A score on a screener is a starting point for a conversation with a qualified clinician, not a diagnosis.
  • It is not a substitute for a clinical evaluation, a therapy session, a medication consultation, or a treatment plan.
  • It is not a crisis service. If you or someone near you is in immediate danger, contact emergency services, or use the crisis lines listed at the top of this page and on every screener page.
  • It is not a covered medical service for billing or insurance purposes.

Updates and corrections

When a screening instrument is revised by its authors, when new validation evidence is published, or when a citation is found to be inaccurate, the corresponding tool page and the clinical evidence page are updated and the "last updated" date is reset. To report an error, use the contact page.

See also