Children with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder want to ask their physicians about their condition and medications but often don’t, according to researchers at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.
“We have found that there has been very little research into how providers, parents and youth communicate about ADHD and ADHD medications,” said Betsy Sleath, Ph.D., the lead author of the study and the George H. Cocolas Distinguished Professor at the UNC Eshelman School of Pharmacy. “What we do know that kids often aren’t part of the conversation when their parents and doctors are talking ADHD. We wanted to know how the kids felt about that.”
Sleath chairs the School’s Division of Pharmaceutical Outcomes and Policy. Her team examined how children with ADHD perceive communication with their pediatric care providers, whether they say they take their ADHD medications correctly and where they prefer to learn about their condition.
One-third of the children said they wished their physician talked with them more about ADHD during visits. Study participants had at least eight unasked questions on average about ADHD and its treatment. Common questions included will I grow out of ADHD, how will my medicine affect me and what are the side effects of my ADHD medicine?
Most of the children said they wanted to learn about ADHD at their provider’s office and wanted their providers to engage them more during visits, the researchers found.
“These results highlight the fact that children with ADHD want their physician to focus more on them during doctor visits,” Sleath said. “Health-care providers should take advantage of this interest to engage youth more in discussions regarding ADHD and its treatment.”
Sleath suggests that physicians work to make children feel more comfortable talking about their ADHD and should make a special effort to ask the children what questions they have.
“By asking children questions and letting them talk more during visits, both the provider and parent might learn more about the youth’s perspective on ADHD and what they would like to learn about their condition. Improving provider-youth communication about ADHD and ADHD medications could increase medication adherence and improve outcomes.
Sleath’s team recruited 48 boys and 22 girls ranging in age from 7 to 17 at two private pediatric practices in North Carolina who had been diagnosed with ADHD and prescribed medicine. Seventy families participated. The study was published in Community Mental Health Journal.
The children were asked if they wished their doctor talked to them more about ADHD. They were asked what made it hard to talk to their doctor about ADHD and what would make it easier to talk to their doctor about ADHD.
Coauthors and Funding
This study was supported by the George H Cocolas Endowed Professorship Fund at the UNC Eshelman School of Pharmacy Foundation.
- Betsy Sleath, Ph.D., UNC Eshelman School of Pharmacy and Cecil G. Sheps Center for Health Services Research, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
- Delesha M. Carpenter, Ph.D., M.S.P.H., Division of Pharmaceutical Outcomes and Policy, UNC Eshelman School of Pharmacy
- Robyn Sayner, Pharm.D., Division of Pharmaceutical Outcomes and Policy, UNC Eshelman School of Pharmacy, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
- Kathleen Thomas, Ph.D., Cecil G Sheps Center for Health Services Research and Department of Health Policy and Management, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
- Larry Mann, M.D., Jeffers, Mann & Artman Pediatrics and Adolescent Medicine, P.A., Raleigh, NC
- Adam Sage, M.A., Division of Pharmaceutical Outcomes and Policy, UNC Eshelman School of Pharmacy, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
- Sandra H. Sulzer, Ph.D., University of Wisconsin-Madison Department of Family Medicine
- Adrian D. Sandler, M.D., Olson Huff Center, Mission Health System, Asheville, N.C., and Department of Pediatrics, UNC School of Medicine, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill