The Decisions Regarding ADHD Management (DRAMa) Study: uncertainties and complexities in assessment, diagnosis, and treatment from the clinician's point of view
The Decisions Regarding ADHD Management (DRAMa) Study: uncertainties and complexities in assessment, diagnosis, and treatment from the clinician's point of view
Background: clinical decision making is influenced by a range of factors and constitutes an inherently complex task. Here we present results from the Decisions Regarding ADHD Management (DRAMa) study in which we undertook a thematic analysis of clinicians’ experiences and attitudes to assessment, diagnosis and treatment of ADHD.
Methods: fifty prescribing child psychiatrists and paediatricians from Belgium and the UK took part in semi-structured interviews about their decisions regarding the assessment, diagnosis and treatment of ADHD. Interviews were transcribed and processed using thematic analysis and the principles of grounded theory.
Results: clinicians described the assessment and diagnostic process as inherently complicated and requiring time and experience to piece together the accounts of children made by multiple sources and through the use of varying information gathering techniques. Treatment decisions were viewed as a shared process between families, children, and the clinician. Published guidelines were viewed as vague, and few clinicians spoke about the use of symptom thresholds or specific impairment criteria. Furthermore, systematic or operationalised criteria to assess treatment outcomes were rarely used.
Conclusions: decision making in ADHD is regarded as a complicated, time consuming process which requires extensive use of clinical impression, and involves a partnership with parents. Clinicians want to separate biological from environmental causal factors to understand the level of impairment and the subsequent need for a diagnosis of ADHD. Clinical guidelines would benefit from revisions to take into account the real world complexities of clinical decision making for ADHD
Kovshoff, H.
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Williams, Sarah
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Vrijens, May
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Danckaerts, Marina
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Thompson, Margaret
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Yardley, Lucy
64be42c4-511d-484d-abaa-f8813452a22e
Hodgkins, Paul
9bfa108c-b193-418d-9f4b-51f09a1ac65a
Sonuga-Barke, Edmund J.S.
bc80bf95-6cf9-4c76-a09d-eaaf0b717635
Kovshoff, H.
82c321ee-d151-40c5-8dde-281af59f2142
Williams, Sarah
f98f47db-b1d6-42c2-b0eb-7c0cb9a981d0
Vrijens, May
f6327e12-080f-47df-b6e5-4d587abc0045
Danckaerts, Marina
e7e7618b-6dd0-4520-bf4e-865597928758
Thompson, Margaret
bfe8522c-b252-4771-8036-744e93357c67
Yardley, Lucy
64be42c4-511d-484d-abaa-f8813452a22e
Hodgkins, Paul
9bfa108c-b193-418d-9f4b-51f09a1ac65a
Sonuga-Barke, Edmund J.S.
bc80bf95-6cf9-4c76-a09d-eaaf0b717635
Kovshoff, H., Williams, Sarah, Vrijens, May, Danckaerts, Marina, Thompson, Margaret, Yardley, Lucy, Hodgkins, Paul and Sonuga-Barke, Edmund J.S.
(2012)
The Decisions Regarding ADHD Management (DRAMa) Study: uncertainties and complexities in assessment, diagnosis, and treatment from the clinician's point of view.
European Child & Adolescent Psychiatry.
(doi:10.1007/s00787-011-0235-8).
Abstract
Background: clinical decision making is influenced by a range of factors and constitutes an inherently complex task. Here we present results from the Decisions Regarding ADHD Management (DRAMa) study in which we undertook a thematic analysis of clinicians’ experiences and attitudes to assessment, diagnosis and treatment of ADHD.
Methods: fifty prescribing child psychiatrists and paediatricians from Belgium and the UK took part in semi-structured interviews about their decisions regarding the assessment, diagnosis and treatment of ADHD. Interviews were transcribed and processed using thematic analysis and the principles of grounded theory.
Results: clinicians described the assessment and diagnostic process as inherently complicated and requiring time and experience to piece together the accounts of children made by multiple sources and through the use of varying information gathering techniques. Treatment decisions were viewed as a shared process between families, children, and the clinician. Published guidelines were viewed as vague, and few clinicians spoke about the use of symptom thresholds or specific impairment criteria. Furthermore, systematic or operationalised criteria to assess treatment outcomes were rarely used.
Conclusions: decision making in ADHD is regarded as a complicated, time consuming process which requires extensive use of clinical impression, and involves a partnership with parents. Clinicians want to separate biological from environmental causal factors to understand the level of impairment and the subsequent need for a diagnosis of ADHD. Clinical guidelines would benefit from revisions to take into account the real world complexities of clinical decision making for ADHD
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e-pub ahead of print date: 2012
Organisations:
Faculty of Health Sciences, Clinical Neuroscience
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Local EPrints ID: 208055
URI: http://eprints.soton.ac.uk/id/eprint/208055
ISSN: 1018-8827
PURE UUID: 23e25f07-668e-4cc0-8405-df6bdde76297
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Date deposited: 19 Jan 2012 11:22
Last modified: 15 Mar 2024 03:14
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Contributors
Author:
Sarah Williams
Author:
May Vrijens
Author:
Marina Danckaerts
Author:
Margaret Thompson
Author:
Paul Hodgkins
Author:
Edmund J.S. Sonuga-Barke
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