IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/gam/jijerp/v20y2022i1p221-d1012924.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

The Winding Road to Equal Care: Attitudes and Experiences of Prescribing ADHD Medication among Pediatric Psychiatrists: A Qualitative Study

Author

Listed:
  • David Sjöström

    (Office for Psychiatry, Habilitation and Aid, Child and Adolescent Mental Health Services, Region Skåne, 20502 Malmö, Sweden)

  • Olof Rask

    (Office for Psychiatry, Habilitation and Aid, Child and Adolescent Mental Health Services, Region Skåne, 20502 Malmö, Sweden
    Department of Clinical Sciences Lund, Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, Lund University, 22100 Lund, Sweden)

  • Linda Welin

    (Office for Psychiatry, Habilitation and Aid, Child and Adolescent Mental Health Services, Region Skåne, 20502 Malmö, Sweden)

  • Marie Galbe Petersson

    (Office for Psychiatry, Habilitation and Aid, Child and Adolescent Mental Health Services, Region Skåne, 20502 Malmö, Sweden)

  • Peik Gustafsson

    (Office for Psychiatry, Habilitation and Aid, Child and Adolescent Mental Health Services, Region Skåne, 20502 Malmö, Sweden
    Department of Clinical Sciences Lund, Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, Lund University, 22100 Lund, Sweden)

  • Kajsa Landgren

    (Department of Health Sciences, Faculty of Medicine, Lund University, 22240 Lund, Sweden
    Office for Psychiatry and Habilitation, Psychiatry Research Skåne, Region Skåne, 22185 Lund, Sweden)

  • Sophia Eberhard

    (Office for Psychiatry, Habilitation and Aid, Child and Adolescent Mental Health Services, Region Skåne, 20502 Malmö, Sweden
    Department of Clinical Sciences Lund, Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, Lund University, 22100 Lund, Sweden)

Abstract

Evidence is lacking on how to understand the reasons for variations, both in prevalence of ADHD and ADHD medication prescribing patterns in children and adolescents, within Region Skåne. These variations are not in line with current national clinical guidelines and seem to have increased over time. This qualitative interview study illuminates pediatric psychiatrists’ attitudes toward ADHD and their experiences of prescribing ADHD medication. Eleven pediatric psychiatrists described the complex interplay of variables that they experienced while assessing a child, which had influence on their decision to prescribe medication. Being part of a local unit’s culture influenced how ADHD medications were prescribed. They wished that the assessment of the child’s symptoms was consistent with guidelines in every unit but noted that such alignment was not implemented. They pointed out that an ADHD diagnosis is dependent on the surrounding’s motivation and capacity to adapt to the present state of the child. The participants described how they balanced clinical guidelines with demands from the family, as well as from society at large. Their personal attitudes and clinical experiences towards diagnosing and prescribing medications to children with ADHD influenced their decisions. The study adds information about how attitudes may lead to variation in diagnostics and therapy.

Suggested Citation

  • David Sjöström & Olof Rask & Linda Welin & Marie Galbe Petersson & Peik Gustafsson & Kajsa Landgren & Sophia Eberhard, 2022. "The Winding Road to Equal Care: Attitudes and Experiences of Prescribing ADHD Medication among Pediatric Psychiatrists: A Qualitative Study," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 20(1), pages 1-13, December.
  • Handle: RePEc:gam:jijerp:v:20:y:2022:i:1:p:221-:d:1012924
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/20/1/221/pdf
    Download Restriction: no

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/20/1/221/
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Jason M. Fletcher, 2014. "The Effects Of Childhood Adhd On Adult Labor Market Outcomes," Health Economics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 23(2), pages 159-181, February.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Breitkopf, Laura & Chowdhury, Shyamal K. & Priyam, Shambhavi & Schildberg-Hörisch, Hannah & Sutter, Matthias, 2020. "Do economic preferences of children predict behavior?," DICE Discussion Papers 342, Heinrich Heine University Düsseldorf, Düsseldorf Institute for Competition Economics (DICE).
    2. Rajah, Nasir & Bamiatzi, Vassiliki & Williams, Nick, 2021. "How childhood ADHD-like symptoms predict selection into entrepreneurship and implications on entrepreneurial performance," Journal of Business Venturing, Elsevier, vol. 36(3).
    3. Cornelius A. Rietveld & Pankaj C. Patel, 2019. "ADHD and later-life labor market outcomes in the United States," The European Journal of Health Economics, Springer;Deutsche Gesellschaft für Gesundheitsökonomie (DGGÖ), vol. 20(7), pages 949-967, September.
    4. Chorniy, Anna & Currie, Janet & Sonchak, Lyudmyla, 2018. "Exploding asthma and ADHD caseloads: The role of medicaid managed care," Journal of Health Economics, Elsevier, vol. 60(C), pages 1-15.
    5. Mark L Bryan & Nigel Rice & Jennifer Roberts & Cristina Sechel, 2022. "Mental Health and Employment: A Bounding Approach Using Panel Data," Oxford Bulletin of Economics and Statistics, Department of Economics, University of Oxford, vol. 84(5), pages 1018-1051, October.
    6. Kelly Bedard & Allison Witman, 2020. "Family structure and the gender gap in ADHD," Review of Economics of the Household, Springer, vol. 18(4), pages 1101-1129, December.
    7. Roy, Soumyadip & Orazem, Peter F., 2021. "Active leisure, passive leisure and health," Economics & Human Biology, Elsevier, vol. 43(C).
    8. Rebecca Jackson & Joshua T. Jordan, 2022. "Reliable change in parent-rated scores on the Brown Attention-Deficit Disorder Scales® from pre- to post-participation in the Brain Balance® program," Palgrave Communications, Palgrave Macmillan, vol. 9(1), pages 1-9, December.
    9. Nieto, Adrián & Suhrcke, Marc, 2021. "The effect of TV viewing on children’s obesity risk and mental well-being: Evidence from the UK digital switchover," Journal of Health Economics, Elsevier, vol. 80(C).
    10. Seth Freedman & Kelli Marquardt & Dario Salcedo & Kosali Simon & Coady Wing, 2023. "Societal Disruptions and Child Mental Health: Evidence from ADHD Diagnosis During the Covid-19 Pandemic," Working Paper Series WP 2023-04, Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago.
    11. Rajah, Nasir & Mattock, Richard & Martin, Adam, 2023. "How do childhood ADHD symptoms affect labour market outcomes?," Economics & Human Biology, Elsevier, vol. 48(C).
    12. Bertoni, M.; & Marin-Lopez, B.A.; & Sanz-de-Galdeano, A.;, 2023. "Subjective Gender-Based Patterns in ADHD Diagnosis," Health, Econometrics and Data Group (HEDG) Working Papers 23/17, HEDG, c/o Department of Economics, University of York.
    13. Xu, Yilan & Beller, Andrea H. & Roberts, Brent W. & Brown, Jeffrey R., 2015. "Personality and young adult financial distress," Journal of Economic Psychology, Elsevier, vol. 51(C), pages 90-100.
    14. Michael Lebenbaum & Claire de Oliveira & France Gagnon & Audrey Laporte, 2024. "Child health and its effect on adult social capital accumulation," Health Economics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 33(5), pages 844-869, May.
    15. Wiklund, Johan & Yu, Wei & Tucker, Reginald & Marino, Louis D., 2017. "ADHD, impulsivity and entrepreneurship," Journal of Business Venturing, Elsevier, vol. 32(6), pages 627-656.
    16. Yu.G. Myslyakova & E.A. Shamova & N.P. Neklyudova, 2020. "Social and Economic Genotype Territories of the Advancing Development on Example of the Ural Region," Journal of Applied Economic Research, Graduate School of Economics and Management, Ural Federal University, vol. 19(3), pages 310-328.
    17. Baert, Stijn & Omey, Eddy & Verhaest, Dieter & Vermeir, Aurélie, 2015. "Mister Sandman, bring me good marks! On the relationship between sleep quality and academic achievement," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 130(C), pages 91-98.
    18. Andersen, Martin, 2015. "Heterogeneity and the effect of mental health parity mandates on the labor market," Journal of Health Economics, Elsevier, vol. 43(C), pages 74-84.
    19. Bertoni, Marco & Marin-Lopez, Blas A. & Sanz-de-Galdeano, Anna, 2023. "Subjective Gender-Based Patterns in ADHD Diagnosis," IZA Discussion Papers 16634, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    20. Guan-Hao He & Li Liu & Esben Strodl & Zeng-Liang Ruan & Hui Jiang & Jin Jing & Yu Jin & Wei-Qing Chen, 2019. "Parental Type D Personality and Children’s Hyperactive Behaviors: The Mediating Role of Parent–Child Interactive Activities," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 16(7), pages 1-14, March.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:gam:jijerp:v:20:y:2022:i:1:p:221-:d:1012924. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: MDPI Indexing Manager (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.mdpi.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.