Willingness to use ADHD treatments: A mixed methods study of perceptions by adolescents, parents, health professionals and teachers

Regina Bussing, Mirka Koro-Ljungberg, Kenji Noguchi, Dana Mason, Gillian Mayerson and Cynthia W. Garvan

Social Science & Medicine, 2012, vol. 74, issue 1, 92-100

Abstract: Little is known about factors that influence willingness to engage in treatment for attention deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). From 2007 to 2008, in the context of a longitudinal study assessing ADHD detection and service use in the United States, we simultaneously elicited ADHD treatment perceptions from four stakeholder groups: adolescents, parents, health care professionals and teachers. We assessed their willingness to use ADHD interventions and views of potential undesirable effects of two pharmacological (short- and long-acting ADHD medications) and three psychosocial (ADHD education, behavior therapy, and counseling) treatments. In multiple regression analysis, willingness was found to be significantly related to respondent type (lower for adolescents than adults), feeling knowledgeable, and considering treatments acceptable and helpful, but not significantly associated with stigma/embarrassment, respondent race, gender and socioeconomic status. Because conceptual models of undesirable effects are underdeveloped, we used grounded theory method to analyze open-ended survey responses to the question: “What other undesirable effects are you concerned about?” We identified general negative treatment perceptions (dislike, burden, perceived ineffectiveness) and specific undesirable effect expectations (physiological and psychological side effects, stigma and future dependence on drugs or therapies) for pharmacological and psychosocial treatments. In summary, findings indicate significant discrepancies between teens’ and adults’ willingness to use common ADHD interventions, with low teen willingness for any treatments. Results highlight the need to develop better treatment engagement practices for adolescents with ADHD.

Keywords: Attention deficit hyperactivity disorder; Treatment willingness; Stakeholder perceptions; Side effect perceptions; Barriers to evidence-based treatment; USA (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2012
References: View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (2)

Downloads: (external link)
http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0277953611006502
Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:eee:socmed:v:74:y:2012:i:1:p:92-100

Ordering information: This journal article can be ordered from
http://www.elsevier.com/wps/find/supportfaq.cws_home/regional
http://www.elsevier. ... _01_ooc_1&version=01

DOI: 10.1016/j.socscimed.2011.10.009

Access Statistics for this article

Social Science & Medicine is currently edited by Ichiro (I.) Kawachi and S.V. (S.V.) Subramanian

More articles in Social Science & Medicine from Elsevier
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Catherine Liu ().