The quality of life of children with attention deficit/hyperactivity disorder: a systematic review
The quality of life of children with attention deficit/hyperactivity disorder: a systematic review
Quality of life (QoL) describes an individual’s subjective perception of their position in life as evidenced by their physical, psychological, and social functioning. QoL has become an increasingly important measure of outcome in child mental health clinical work and research. Here we provide a systematic review of QoL studies in children and young people with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) and address three main questions. (1) What is the impact of ADHD on QoL? (2) What are the relationships between ADHD symptoms, functional impairment and the mediators and moderators of QoL in ADHD? (3) Does the treatment of ADHD impact on QoL? Databases were systematically searched to identify research studies describing QoL in ADHD. Thirty six relevant articles were identified. Robust negative effects on QoL are reported by the parents of children with ADHD across a broad range of psycho-social, achievement and self evaluation domains. Children with ADHD rate their own QoL less negatively than their parents and do not always seeing themselves as functioning less well than healthy controls. ADHD has a comparable overall impact on QoL compared to other mental health conditions and severe physical disorders. Increased symptom level and impairment predicts poorer QoL. The presence of comorbid conditions or psychosocial stressors helps explain these effects. There is emerging evidence that QoL improves with effective treatment. In conclusion, ADHD seriously compromises QoL especially when seen from a parents’ perspective. QoL outcomes should be included as a matter of course in future treatment studies.
83-105
Danckaerts, M.
f1067bea-510c-4206-a24d-ecaee0d57d6f
Sonuga-Barke, E.J.S.
bc80bf95-6cf9-4c76-a09d-eaaf0b717635
Banaschewski, T.
ca2651e5-143a-4171-b6d0-3e3853b684d8
Buitelaar, J.
fa22aba5-1307-4627-9ae8-e564013a5af8
Döpfner, M.
4b8e28d1-48ee-434e-b6cd-ede9dd9f1caa
Hollis, C.
dc8c2836-32b3-4f5a-a53a-aeeef1ae0334
Santosh, P.
83759ca4-e254-4733-be8d-df022df6ce89
Rothenberger, A.
f946fbda-7ceb-46b0-b48d-23cdaa4016aa
Sergeant, J.
76cfd9c5-bab9-4119-b5c2-af1749e22c71
Steinhausen, H.C.
dfa222f6-e520-4916-b628-d74ddda5c80f
Taylor, E.
4528abc7-ae2b-4268-a646-68f9c2cae4d3
Coghill, D.
a4b982d1-4788-41aa-90c5-b4a7f7dffad7
26 July 2009
Danckaerts, M.
f1067bea-510c-4206-a24d-ecaee0d57d6f
Sonuga-Barke, E.J.S.
bc80bf95-6cf9-4c76-a09d-eaaf0b717635
Banaschewski, T.
ca2651e5-143a-4171-b6d0-3e3853b684d8
Buitelaar, J.
fa22aba5-1307-4627-9ae8-e564013a5af8
Döpfner, M.
4b8e28d1-48ee-434e-b6cd-ede9dd9f1caa
Hollis, C.
dc8c2836-32b3-4f5a-a53a-aeeef1ae0334
Santosh, P.
83759ca4-e254-4733-be8d-df022df6ce89
Rothenberger, A.
f946fbda-7ceb-46b0-b48d-23cdaa4016aa
Sergeant, J.
76cfd9c5-bab9-4119-b5c2-af1749e22c71
Steinhausen, H.C.
dfa222f6-e520-4916-b628-d74ddda5c80f
Taylor, E.
4528abc7-ae2b-4268-a646-68f9c2cae4d3
Coghill, D.
a4b982d1-4788-41aa-90c5-b4a7f7dffad7
Danckaerts, M., Sonuga-Barke, E.J.S., Banaschewski, T., Buitelaar, J., Döpfner, M., Hollis, C., Santosh, P., Rothenberger, A., Sergeant, J., Steinhausen, H.C., Taylor, E. and Coghill, D.
(2009)
The quality of life of children with attention deficit/hyperactivity disorder: a systematic review.
European Child & Adolescent Psychiatry, 19 (2), .
(doi:10.1007/s00787-009-0046-3).
Abstract
Quality of life (QoL) describes an individual’s subjective perception of their position in life as evidenced by their physical, psychological, and social functioning. QoL has become an increasingly important measure of outcome in child mental health clinical work and research. Here we provide a systematic review of QoL studies in children and young people with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) and address three main questions. (1) What is the impact of ADHD on QoL? (2) What are the relationships between ADHD symptoms, functional impairment and the mediators and moderators of QoL in ADHD? (3) Does the treatment of ADHD impact on QoL? Databases were systematically searched to identify research studies describing QoL in ADHD. Thirty six relevant articles were identified. Robust negative effects on QoL are reported by the parents of children with ADHD across a broad range of psycho-social, achievement and self evaluation domains. Children with ADHD rate their own QoL less negatively than their parents and do not always seeing themselves as functioning less well than healthy controls. ADHD has a comparable overall impact on QoL compared to other mental health conditions and severe physical disorders. Increased symptom level and impairment predicts poorer QoL. The presence of comorbid conditions or psychosocial stressors helps explain these effects. There is emerging evidence that QoL improves with effective treatment. In conclusion, ADHD seriously compromises QoL especially when seen from a parents’ perspective. QoL outcomes should be included as a matter of course in future treatment studies.
This record has no associated files available for download.
More information
Published date: 26 July 2009
Identifiers
Local EPrints ID: 67023
URI: http://eprints.soton.ac.uk/id/eprint/67023
ISSN: 1018-8827
PURE UUID: 4a9038cf-042e-4605-ac12-9203f6b3eba0
Catalogue record
Date deposited: 30 Jul 2009
Last modified: 13 Mar 2024 18:43
Export record
Altmetrics
Contributors
Author:
M. Danckaerts
Author:
E.J.S. Sonuga-Barke
Author:
T. Banaschewski
Author:
J. Buitelaar
Author:
M. Döpfner
Author:
C. Hollis
Author:
P. Santosh
Author:
A. Rothenberger
Author:
J. Sergeant
Author:
H.C. Steinhausen
Author:
E. Taylor
Author:
D. Coghill
Download statistics
Downloads from ePrints over the past year. Other digital versions may also be available to download e.g. from the publisher's website.
View more statistics