Study of ADHD in adolescents receives € 450,000 grant
Saskia van der Oord: 'Many adolescents with ADHD find it extremely difficult to plan and organise their work’
UvA psychologist Dr Saskia van der Oord, Dr Hilde Geurts, Prof. Pier Prins and Ms Marije Kuin of ZonMW (the Netherlands organisation for health research and development) have been awarded a € 450,000 grant to study of the effectiveness of treatment for adolescents with ADHD that find it difficult to plan and organise their work. The training programme developed by Kuin and Van der Oord is the first of its kind to be targeted specifically at this age group.
UvA psychologist Dr Saskia van der Oord, Dr Hilde Geurts, Prof. Pier Prins and Ms Marije Kuin of ZonMW (the Netherlands organisation for health research and development) have been awarded a € 450,000 grant to study of the effectiveness of treatment for adolescents with ADHD that find it difficult to plan and organise their work. The training programme developed by Kuin and Van der Oord is the first of its kind to be targeted specifically at this age group.Until now, adolescents with ADHD had not been catered for in terms of treatment. Children up to the age of 12 still get a great deal of support from their parents, who can help create a structured environment. Adolescents suffering from ADHD are generally prescribed methylphenidate and (cognitive) behaviour therapy. Adults diagnosed with ADHD are catered for in the form of special training programmes, where they learn to plan and organise their work. Adolescents are more difficult to treat: they are less likely to benefit from medication than young children and less inclined to finish therapy programmes while training programmes for adults are insufficiently geared towards age-group specific problems. Until now, no specific treatment programmes had been developed for adolescents with ADHD. ‘This is unfortunate, if we take into account that problems in the area of attention deficit and planning and organising first arise during precisely this phase', explains psychologist Saskia van der Oord. ‘Children are expected to learn how to plan and organise a lot of their own work and activities between the ages of 13 and 16. Whereas primary school is extremely safe and structured, children attending secondary school must learn to keep an agenda, plan their study time, find the right classroom, etc. This poses an enormous challenge to a lot of adolescents with ADHD.'
Minimising risks during adolescent development
Failure to offer these adolescents proper supervision can result in a whole host of problems, both at home and in school. Behavioural problems and mood disorders are also common amongst this group. ‘In most cases, they don't get help until the situation has already escalated. This is why evidence-based treatments are crucial in reducing risks during the development of adolescents with ADHD. In response to this need, Kuin and Van der Oord developed a training programme for adolescents with ADHD, based on existing treatment programmes for adults. The training programme consists of eight sessions lasting between 45 minutes and one hour, and is mainly centred around planning and organising school activities and coping with negative thought patterns ("I don't know how, I can't do it"). ‘For example, we teach them to bring a little notepad to school and write down all the tasks they are expected to carry out. Then, we get them to write down each of those tasks in their agenda at a fixed time of day. We also deal with any negative thoughts they may have in terms of their own skills or capacities.'In addition, the training programme features a motivational component. ‘Many adolescents tend to put things off and avoid necessary tasks. In many cases, they are poorly motivated to change their behaviour. We hold talks to stimulate them to change their behaviour on the basis of their own intrinsic motivation. These motivations can be diverse: they may wish to avoid getting nagged about their homework by parents, avoid being held back a year and losing touch with their friends in class or be motivated to become a PE teacher later in life. Their own efforts and a change of behaviour will be crucial in achieving these goals.'
Successful test
The training was successfully tested on several adolescents in practical clinical trials. Thanks to the ZonMW grant, a doctoral candidate and two research assistants will now be able to start work on a new study. Van der Oord and her colleagues will start recruiting trial subjects on 1 December. The study will then commence with a pilot phase involving 10 children. The second phase will consist of a large-scale study, involving some 250 children. Treatments will be provided through various municipal health agencies such as UvA-Virenze and Lucertis. Researchers will be assessing the effectiveness of the training programme in both the short and long term. They will also determine whether the programme is effective in improving planning and organisation skills, reducing ADHD symptoms and ancillary problems and improving performance at home and in school.Author: Esther van Bochove, FMG Communication Department