engleski

ADHD - Problems with diagnostics

The objective of this study was to determine the factors that influence diagnistics for Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder in school-aged children by parents, teachers and mental health professionals. Our target group comprised 80 pupils of the first grade from two preschools in Zagreb. The target groups were parents of the pupils parents, teachers of the pupils and mental health professionals (profesionals from our Organization: psychiatrist, psychologist, special educator) and the mental health profesionals from those two schools (school paedagogues and school psychologist). We have asked all of those parents and teachers to fill out the Conners scale for parents and teachers for all the children in those two first grades. Mental health professionals had to make diagnosis based on the DSM-IV diagnostic manual. All together the results showed that aprox. 20% of pupils suffered from ADHD. However, there were many differences between parental diagnoses and many differences between teachers diagnoses. Therefore, their criteria differed greatly. Additionally we looked into the factors that played an important role in diagnosing for ADHD. In the parental group the prevailing factor when diagnosing for ADHD, was age. Younger parents who had less time to spend with their children and had longer working hours were more eager to diagnose ADHD that older parents with more patience and more flexible working hours. In the teachers group, age and experience were important factors as well. Younger and less experienced teachers have diagnosed more pupils with ADHD that older and more experienced teachers.Our project is supported and partially funded by Zagreb City Councill.

ADHD; diagnostics; evaluation

nije evidentirano