Teachers’ role and attitudes concerning ADHD medication: A qualitative analysis

Abstract

The increased use of Attention Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) medication by children has led to growing concerns. In a previous study, we found that many of the teachers that were interviewed about ADHD spontaneously associated ADHD with medication. The present study is a qualitative reanalysis of what precisely these 30 primary school teachers had spontaneously said about medication in our previous semi‐structured interviews on ADHD. Almost all respondents had experience with pupils taking ADHD medication. The majority of spontaneously mentions medication as the treatment of ADHD. Attitudes towards ADHD medication use by pupils are mainly ambivalent, but more positive than negative effects of medication are reported. However, what teachers say about ADHD medication is often not based on sound information; their attitudes tend to be formed by personal experiences rather than founded on professional and scientific sources. We conclude from our analysis that it will be in the interest of reducing the number of children on ADHD medication that teachers have good access to verified and up‐to‐date information on ADHD and medication so that they are better supported in making evidence‐based pedagogical judgments.

Validity practices in qualitative research in school psychology

“…Finally, reviewers played a role in studies carried out in languages other than English. In Sluiter et al (2019) study exploring teachers’ perspectives on ADHD medications, the researchers consulted with a native speaker of Dutch and English to review the quotes the authors wanted to include in the manuscript to ensure their translation “resemble(d) the language that was used by the respondents with a focus on intended meaning rather than the proximity of words in literal translation” (p. 1264). Fulano et al (2018) similarly invited a teacher fluent in English and Mozambican to translate the quotes from the interviews.…”

“…Other researchers coded the transcripts in the original language and then translated the quotes when writing the manuscripts. Sluiter et al (2019) state that the focus of their translation was "on intended meaning rather than the proximity of words in literal translation" (p. 1264). Similarly, Fulano et al (2018) spoke about coding in the original language and then translating the quotes at the manuscript-writing stage: "Following literature recommendations, data were used in the original language…; namely, all data analysis and direct quotations in the manuscript.…”

Απόψεις Εκπαιδευτικών Πρωτοβάθμιας Εκπαίδευσης Για Τη Διαταραχή Ελλειματικής Προσοχής- Υπερκινητικότητας

“…Ακολούθως, από τους ίδιους τους εκπαιδευτικούς υιοθετείται ο παραδοσιακός ρόλος που συνδέεται με τις διαδικασίες εκπαιδευτικής αξιολόγησης και ταξινόμησης σε κατηγορίες των παιδιών (καλός, μέτριος, κακός μαθητής) και δεν αφορά καθόλου τον σχεδιασμό και την υλοποίηση προγραμμάτων διαχείρισης των δυσκολιών σε επίπεδο τάξης (Μπίμπου-Νάκου, 2010).Το παραπάνω συμπέρασμα δεν συνάδει με σύγχρονα διεθνή ευρήματα, στα οποία υπογραμμίζεται πως οι εκπαιδευτικοί διατυπώνουν δημόσια την άποψή τους για τη φαρμακοθεραπεία της ΔΕΠ-Υ (Sluiter et al, 2019).Σημαντική, όμως, διαπίστωση της παρούσας έρευνας είναι πως, για τους εκπαιδευτικούς γενικής αγωγής, η αποτελεσματικότητα της φαρμακευτικής αγωγής είναι χαμηλή αναφορικά με τις μαθησιακές επιδόσεις των παιδιών με ΔΕΠ-Υ που φοιτούν στη γενική αγωγή, διότι δεν ενισχύει αλλά δυσχεραίνει τη μαθησιακή τους απόδοση. Το συγκεκριμένο αποτέλεσμα δεν συμφωνεί με προηγούμενα ερευνητικά δεδομένα.…”

Pupils' inclusion as a process of narrative interactions: tackling ADHD typification through MADIT methodology

“…Nevertheless, when teachers are informed about the basic features of ADHD, they tend to concentrate on the dysfunctional elements of these students [17][18][19]. This, in turn, could lead to additional stigma-related criticalities [20]: generating, for example, a lower selfesteem of these pupils [21], a worsening of the scholastic achievements [22] and producing critical pitfalls on the management of the critical issues themselves [23], such as an overreliance on pharmaceutical treatments [24]. Therefore, it follows that these teachers' biased attitudes, beliefs, and narrations could negatively impact the inclusion process [17,25] and how peers will be involved in including the student with ADHD [26].…”