Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) is one of the most prevalent
chronic disorders in childhood. The measurement of health-related quality of life
(HRQOL) can compliment ADHD behavior rating scales and provide a more
comprehensive understanding of the impact of ADHD and its treatment on the child's
overall daily functioning and well-being. The purpose of the current study was to assess
HRQOL from the perspective of pediatric patient self-report and parent proxy-report and
family impact from the perspective of parents in children with ADHD ages 5 to 18 years
being seen at a Pediatric Psychiatric Clinic utilizing the PedsQL(TM) 4.0 Generic Core
Scales and Family Impact Module. For all PedsQL(TM) 4.0 Generic Core Scales, pediatric
patients with ADHD and their parents reported statistically significant worse HRQOL
than healthy children, with large effect sizes across all domains. More impaired generic
HRQOL was significantly correlated with more severe ADHD symptoms as measured
by the NICHQ Vanderbilt Total ADHD Symptom Score for parent proxy-report but not child self-report. More impaired family functioning was significantly correlated with
more severe ADHD symptoms. Intraclass Correlations (ICC) between pediatric patient
self-report and parent proxy-report across the PedsQL(TM) 4.0 Generic Core Scales were
in the poor to fair agreement range. These findings have implications for future research
and clinical practice with pediatric patients with ADHD and co-morbid psychiatric
conditions and their families. Given the large effect sizes reported between the present
sample and healthy children across all HRQOL domains, it is important that
interventions designed for children with ADHD and co-morbid psychiatric conditions
not only address psychosocial difficulties, but also the physical impairments that may
result from medications and/or co-morbid psychiatric diagnoses such as anxiety or
depression. Given our finding that greater ADHD symptomatology was significantly
associated with greater negative family impact, interventions for this population should
focus on mitigating the negative impact of ADHD and co-morbid psychiatric conditions
on families, particularly related to the areas of parental worry, family relationships, and
daily family activities.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:tamu.edu/oai:repository.tamu.edu:1969.1/ETD-TAMU-2010-05-7737 |
| Date | 2010 May 1900 |
| Creators | Limbers, Christine Ashley |
| Contributors | Varni, James, Heffer, Robert |
| Source Sets | Texas A and M University |
| Language | en_US |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | thesis, text |
| Format | application/pdf |
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