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Are too many—or too few—children being diagnosed with Attention Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD)?
A multidisciplinary team of investigators at USC is attempting to answer that question as well as assess the impact of ADHD on students’ health risk behavior and quality of life. The team is focusing on students in Richland School District Two, while other university teams are surveying students in Virginia and in Oklahoma, making it the largest community-based epidemiological study of ADHD to date.
“There is a lot of debate about ADHD in the public press and at any school gathering,” said Robert McKeown, an associate professor in epidemiology and biostatistics in the Arnold School of Public Health and principal investigator of the three-year study funded by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
“There are a fair number of children who are misdiagnosed, but there also are others who are not diagnosed who should be, as well as concerns about whether children are receiving appropriate treatment.”
The project, called South Carolina PLAY (Project to Learn about ADHD in Youth), asks teachers to complete surveys on all of their students. The questions screen for evidence of ADHD and other emotional and behavioral problems. While the surveys don’t provide a definite diagnosis, they do guide the USC investigators in selecting students and parents for further interviews. The project recruits both students with possible problems and those with no indications of problems. Interviews with those students and/or their parents gather more information about factors that relate to ADHD and how it is affecting students’ lives.
McKeown’s co-principal investigator for the project is Steve Cuffe, neuropsychiatry and behavioral science. Other investigators are Sandra Evans, health promotion, education, and behavior; Charity Moore, epidemiology and biostatistics; and Robin Welsh, pediatrics.
“First, we want to establish the rate of ADHD based on a community study, not just on the number of kids being treated,” McKeown said. “Then we want to see how the impulsive nature of those with ADHD might be leading to health risk behavior and how the condition is affecting their overall quality of life.
“Finally, we want to develop interventions to help teachers deal more effectively with behavioral and learning problems in the classroom.”
The USC team already is publishing a monthly newsletter for Richland Two teachers that provides details on ADHD and reports progress on the study. Next year, the team plans to provide in-service training for teachers on classroom techniques for working with children with ADHD and other behavior problems.
“We think this study is going to give us a better understanding of ADHD and its impact on children and their families, and suggest effective ways for teachers to address the challenges of working with all the children in their classrooms, including those with ADHD,” McKeown said.
03/04
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