Psychology / M.A. (Psychology)

Thesis (M.Tech.: Chiropractic)-Dept. of Chiropractic, Durban Institute of Technology, 2003 xiv, 86 leaves / The purpose of this study was to evaluate the efficacy of Chiropractic Manipulative Therapy in the management of Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder in children.

Dissertation submitted in partial compliance with the requirements for the Master's Degree in Technology: Homoeopathy, Durban University of Technology, 2012. / INTRODUCTION Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder (ADD/ADHD) is a multifactorial and clinically heterogeneous disorder that is associated with tremendous financial burden, stress to families and adverse academic and vocational outcomes (Bierderman, 2005). ADD/ADHD is currently one of the most researched childhood conditions, yet there is still much controversy and misunderstanding surrounding it. It is also one of the most commonly diagnosed disorders of childhood development (Picton, 2005) and the prevalence of this disorder in adults is increasingly recognized (Bierderman, 2005). Parents are seeking alternatives, as they are concerned with the side effects of Methylphenidate hydrochloride and other conventional medication used to treat the symptoms of ADD/ADHD. AIM The aim of this research was to document the current practices of registered homoeopathic practitioners, with regard to ADD/ADHD. In addition, their perceptions regarding aetiology, treatment, management and success rate was investigated. This research took the form of a qualitative survey targeting homoeopaths practicing within the KwaZulu- Natal region. METHOD A total of 42 practitioners were contacted, 35 practitioners initially agreed to participate in the study, and the questionnaires were electronically sent to them via email. Of these 35 homoeopaths, 22 participated in the survey, i.e. giving an overall response rate of 62 percent. The questionnaires were electronically distributed and collected via email. The raw data was coded and captured by Google docs and the results were analysed by utilizing the SPSS for Windows version 18 SPSS/PASW 2009. RESULTS The majority of the responding homoeopaths practiced in the more urban areas of KwaZulu-Natal, more specifically within the eThekwini Durban area. The majority of these homoeopaths had qualified from the Durban University of Technology, were English speaking females and were between the ages of 25-35 years old. The homoeopaths within this study found that most patients who present with ADD/ADHD symptoms are previously diagnosed by paediatrician’s neurologists or psychologists. According to the homoeopaths participating in the study, the general consensus is that the diagnosis of ADD/ADHD is given far too easily, and without proper assessment, 86 percent of the homoeopaths are of the opinion that ADD/ADHD is misdiagnosed, and ninety one percent stated that ADD/ADHD is over diagnosed. The majority of the practitioners prescribe a simplex remedy, or the Simillimum, whereas only a few practitioners prescribe a complex remedy. It was found that the most common complex prescribed is Nervoheel®. Some practitioners prefer to make up their own complexes, which would be patient specific. In this study it was found that 68 percent of the practitioners reported the sycotic miasm to be most common, and 54 percent of the practitioners reported the tubercular miasm to be the second most common presenting miasm. The homoeopaths in this study stated that they prefer to use a holistic approach to obtain optimal well being, thus advice, lifestyle adjustments, education and counselling all form part of the treatment and management of a patient with ADD/ADHD, making it unique and specific to each case. Of the adjunctive therapies, Vitamins, supplements, and nutritional changes are recommended, especially if a deficiency has been identified. The most commonly prescribed supplements for ADD/ADHD are the Essential Fatty Acids (EFA’s) followed by Vitamin B Complexes, Multi-vitamins and Magnesium, Zinc, and Calcium. CONCLUSION The majority of the homoeopaths in this study reported that they are having a moderate to great success in treating and managing patients with ADD/ADHD. Many of these practitioners thought there to be no single cause for ADD/ADHD, however many of them found there to be a few significant contributing factors to the development or aetiology of ADD/ADHD. These factors include; genetics, environment, diet, vaccinations and family dynamics. The majority of the practitioners believe that ADD/ADHD is far too easily diagnosed and that further assessment of the mental, emotional, and physical symptoms of the patient need to be taken into consideration. The majority of the homoeopaths in this study prefer to use Simplex treatment, and consider diet, lifestyle changes, and phytotherapy the most successful adjunctive therapies when treating and managing a patient with ADD/ADHD. Many of the practitioners within this study reported that homoeopathy should be considered a primary treatment option for patients with ADD/ADHD, as the focus of the treatment is on determining the cause of the symptoms, and then managing the patient as a whole, focusing on changing the diet, altering the lifestyle, and treating the totality of the mental, emotional and physical symptoms.

Due to increased concern about malingered self-report of symptoms of attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) in college students, there is a need for instruments that can detect feigning. The present study provided further validation data for a recently developed validity scale for the Conners’ Adult ADHD Rating Scale (CAARS), the CAARS Infrequency Index (CII). The sample consisted of 139 undergraduate students; 21 individuals with diagnoses of ADHD, 29 individuals responding honestly, 54 individuals responding randomly (full or half), and 35 individuals assigned to malinger. The CII demonstrated modest sensitivity to malingering (.31-.46) and excellent specificity to ADHD (.91-.95). Sequential application of validity scales had correct classification rates of honest (93.1%), ADHD (81.0%), malingering (57.1%), half random (42.3%), and full random (92.9%).

Previous research has clearly established the efficacy of behavioral parent training approaches for the treatment of Attention-deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD). The purpose of this study was to examine the efficacy of a parent training program utilizing cognitive-behavioral strategies of self-instruction with ADHD children. Parents of 35 elementary school-age children referred for treatment of their children's chronic inattention, impulsivity, and restlessness were randomly assigned to one of three groups: behavioral parent training, self-instructional parent training, or a parent support group. Outcome measures collected prior to and after treatment and at a 1-month follow-up included a parent-report measure of child behavioral problems in the home, parent-report of behavior problem pervasiveness across home settings, and a teacher-report measure of school behavior. The integrity of treatment procedures was assessed via process inventories completed by parents following each session and by expert ratings of session audiotapes. No systematic differences between conditions were noted with respect to the group leader's style, and integrity of the treatment groups was validated by the expert audiotape ratings. The results indicated that self-instructional and behavioral parent training appeared to produce significant reductions in parent-rated measures of global behavior problems and ADHD-related behaviors which were maintained at 1-month follow-up. There was no generalization of treatment effects to the school setting for any group. The results suggest that self-instructional parent training is an effective treatment for ADHD children.

Background: ADHD is a neuropsychiatric diagnosis that has increased in recent years. When students start school and the requirements to be able to concentrate increases visibility students with ADHD clearer. Students' perceptions of the school environment is affected by the school's response. Aim and method: The aim of this literature review is to describe experiences of being treated at school as a student with an ADHD diagnose. Results: Students' experiences was affected by the response of teachers and classmates depended on if their approach were friendly or not. Students experienced non friendly approach as an insult. They feel lower self-esteem, became sad and angry, they got worse outcomes, feel excluded when replaced in remedial classes. When teachers and classmates were friendly in their approach students could experience joy and happiness, they understood the instructions better and had they felt like there was in the group. An important part of the experience was also due to how much knowledge the teachers had about the diagnosis, what demands they made and how the school environment in general looked. Students' perception was that the teachers with more knowledge had better approach which also classmates embraced and student feelings became less stressful and that feeling of exclusion reduced. Conclusion: This study provides a deeper understanding of how students with ADHD experience their education and treatment in their school enviroment. These findings may be useful in the school environment, by health care and other care contexts.

Idag uppskattas att cirka fem procent av alla skolbarn i Sverige har ADHD. Symtomen yttrar sig som överdriven hyperaktivitet, impulsivitet samt koncentrationssvårigheter, vilket kan medföra stora problem både i skolan, hemmet och i sociala sammanhang. Bristande kunskap leder till att individer i samhället har en stigmatiserad bild av diagnosen, detta påverkar individer med ADHD negativt. Genom att ha analyserat 10 vetenskapliga kvalitativa artiklar där nyckelfynd om barn och vuxnas upplevelser av att växa upp med ADHD har plockats ut, har ett nytt resultat växt fram. Det framkom i resultatet att när lärare och föräldrar var stöttande, accepterande, omtänksamma och hjälpsamma klarade barnen med ADHD av vardagen på ett mer hanterligt sätt. Barnen upplevde att det var enklare att fokusera i en strukturerad miljö där aktivt och kreativt lärande förekom. Fasta rutiner, regler samt struktur var något som var betydelsefullt för barnen. Vidare tyder resultatet på att det var krävande att växa upp med ADHD. Deltagarna kände sig annorlunda och hade svårt att passa in i sociala sammanhang. När omgivningen inte visade acceptans och förståelse för barnets beteende, upplevde de bland annat frustration, vilket i sin tur resulterade i konflikter och bråk. Det framkom i studien att deltagarna upplevde bristfälligt stöd och hjälp från sjukvården, och fick därför söka information om sin diagnos på egen hand. Bemötandet var viktigt för barn med ADHD och det är därför betydelsefullt att omgivningen, såväl som allmänsjuksköterskan, får en ökad förståelse och acceptans för barnets beteende. Det kan bidra till att livssituationen för individen bli mer hanterbar. Eftersom ADHD är vanligt förekommande möter även allmänsjuksköterskan dessa barn inom vården. Genom att få kunskap om hur individer med ADHD upplever sin situation skapas en tydligare bild kring de behov som finns hos barnet. Kunskapen leder till att sjuksköterskan kan ge ett mer anpassat bemötande, stöd och information i samband med vårdandet. Syftet med denna studie var därför att belysa upplevelser av hur det är att växa upp med ADHD. / Background: Around five percent of all school children in Sweden are living with ADHD. ADHD is a neuropsychiatric disability which is manifested through hyperactivity, impulsiveness and difficulties to concentrate. As more children get diagnosed with ADHD, general nurses are required to meet these children more frequently in health care. It is therefore very important for the nurses to have good knowledge about how these children should be treated. Through increased knowledge about how children with ADHD experience their situation, a better understanding about the needs can be gained. Therefore the aim of this study was to illuminate experiences growing up with ADHD. Method: A literature-based study with analyses of qualitative studies was conducted. The analytical method was based on Friberg's five-step model. The results of a total of 10 scientific articles were compiled. Results: The result revealed three main themes and eight sub themes. The three main themes were; experiences of being different, the experiences of support and understanding from surroundings and impact from the environment. Conclusion: The result showed that the participants were affected by how they were treated by society. An accepting and understanding environment enabled the children to better manage daily life. Better understanding of ADHD by the society, including general nurses, and an increased acceptance of the children’s behavior and how they should be treated, could change their daily life in a positive way.

The overall aims of this thesis were to develop and evaluate a screening instrument designed to detect gaming addiction symptoms in adolescents, to study associations between problematic gaming and psychiatric symptoms, to investigate the stability of problematic gaming, and to examine possible associations between gaming at baseline (W1) with problem gambling three years later (W2). The study population consisted of adolescents from the Survey of Adolescent Life in Västmanland SALVe Cohort (adolescents in Västmanland born in 1997 and 1999, and their parents), in two waves (2012, n = 1887; 2015, n = 1576), and adolescents from child and adolescent psychiatric clinics in Västmanland (2014, n = 242). The development of the Gaming Addiction Identification Test (GAIT) was based upon the research literature on gaming, gambling, and addiction. An expert panel estimated the content validity of the GAIT and found it to be excellent. Additional psychometric evaluations of the GAIT and the parent version, GAIT-P, were conducted and it was found that both versions showed promising psychometric results, with high internal consistency, high concurrent validity, high concordance, unidimensionality, and high factor loadings, although poor model fit in exploratory factor analysis. Self- and parent-rated prevalence of gaming addiction symptoms were estimated at 1.3% with the GAIT and 2.4% with the GAIT-P in 13- and 15-year-olds. Self-rated problematic gaming above the cutoff had a boy to girl ratio of approximately 5:1 in both the SALVe Cohort and the clinical sample, whereas more girls than boys reported symptoms above the cutoff for ADHD, depression, anxiety, and psychotic-like-experiences. ADHD, depression, and anxiety symptoms were associated with odds ratios of 2.43, 2.47, and 2.06, respectively, in relation to coexisting problematic gaming. Furthermore, problematic gaming was stable over time, and problematic gaming at the first wave was associated with problem gambling three years later. It is important to screen for possible co-occurring symptoms among those who seek treatment and among those who appear to have symptoms of gaming, gambling, or psychiatric symptoms. Ongoing evaluation of adequate screening and diagnostic measurements, and the development and evaluation of treatments for problematic gaming, gaming addiction, and comorbid conditions are needed.

Children with Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) experience a significant number of psychological symptoms and behavioral problems which negatively affect their interactions within their families. The purpose of the present study was to explore the perceptions of family environment of boys with ADHD and their mothers and compare them to those of nonreferred boys and their mothers. Maternal reports of emotional distress and perceptions of hyperactive behavior in the two groups of boys were also studied.

The purpose of this study was to follow the development of children with reading disabilities only, reading disabilites and ADHD, ADHD only, and a comparison group from the ages of 3 to 18. Differences were examined on the following variables: (a) Antecedent variables- Reynell Developmental Language Scales, Temperament, and Family Adversity; (b) School-age variables- behavioral and academic self-concept ratings; and (c) Psychological adjustment variables at age 18- self-reports of delinquency. Children from the reading disabled groups exhibited receptive language deficits, were from families who during the early childhood years had less resources to cope with problem situations, exhibited difficult temperamental characteristics, and had negative academic self-concepts. Distinctions were also noted between a "pervasive" and "situational" presentation of behavioral problems. During late adolescence the reading disabled groups exhibited similar levels of delinquency as their non-disabled peers. The implications of this study and directions for future research are discussed.