Sense International India Launches Mental Health Screening Tool for Persons with Deafblindness

Mumbai, May 26, 2026: Sense International India has launched SII-SAMWED, described as India’s first structured and statistically validated mental health screening tool designed specifically for children and young adults with deafblindness. The initiative was announced during Mental Health Awareness Month.

According to the organisation, nearly 500,000 people in India live with deafblindness, a condition involving combined hearing and vision loss that affects communication, emotional expression, and access to services. The new screening tool aims to support early identification and monitoring of mental health concerns among this population.

The SII-SAMWED tool has been developed for two age groups — children aged 10 to 18 years and young adults aged 19 to 29 years. It contains 37 structured items covering areas such as emotional regulation, behavioural regulation, social functioning, cognitive and physiological regulation, and substance use among young adults.

The tool was validated using data from 308 children and 117 young adults and has undergone reliability and statistical testing for use in educational and clinical settings. Parents, special educators, and community rehabilitation workers can administer the screening in homes, schools, and community environments.

Alongside the launch, Sense International India has also expanded its Psycho-Social First Aid (PSFA) Professionals Course, developed in collaboration with Indian Institute of Public Health Gandhinagar. The three-month online programme trains educators and rehabilitation professionals to provide psychosocial support to persons with deafblindness.

According to the organisation, 468 special educators and community-based rehabilitation workers have been trained under the initiative, while over 280 persons with deafblindness and 167 family members have received counselling and mental health support.

Rutu Trivedi, Principal Technical Lead – Mental Health and Research, Sense International India said, "Mental health has always been at the heart of what we do at Sense International India, because for years, we have seen individuals with deafblindness carry emotional burdens that no one around them had the tools to recognize, let alone address. Aggression, withdrawal, silence, these are not behaviours to be corrected. They are cries to be heard. SII-SAMWED and the Psycho-Social First Aid programme are our commitment to ensuring that the people closest to these individuals, their parents, their educators, and their caregivers, are finally equipped to listen. Because when we build that capacity, we do not just improve mental health outcomes. We give a child back their dignity."