Abstract
BackgroundThere has been a steady rise in the use of medication by Israeli school children to treat ADHD, partly due to what seems like school teachers’ and counselors’ tendency to express positive attitudes towards its use. Therfore it is important to examine the involvement of the school teachers and counselors in the parents’ decision-making about giving their children medication.MethodsThis study used a qualitative constructivist research method of semi-structured interviews. It included individual interviews with 36 teachers and school counselors and 11 parents of students ages 9–14 from the Jewish and Arab populations.ResultsTeachers and school counselors use different strategies to encourage parents to have their children diagnosed for ADHD and medicated. First they suggest diagnosis as a necessary step in the best interest of the child, distinguishing between diagnosis and medication to mitigate parents’ concerns. In the second stage, teachers normalize the use of medication, as well as framing it as a drug that provides not only a medical treatment but also emotional wellbeing.ConclusionsTeachers and counselors are involved in parents’ decision-making process about medicating their children to treat ADHD, which contradicts the education system’s guidelines. It is necessary to set clear and explicit limits and guidelines for education system employees so that they do not cross professional and ethical limits.
Highlights
There has been a steady rise in the use of medication by Israeli school children to treat Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD), partly due to what seems like school teachers’ and counselors’ tendency to express positive attitudes towards its use
There is evidence that supports the etiology of the disorder being related to neurobiological changes [3, 4] and genetic mutations [4, 5], but the scientific community has not ascertained definitively that the disorder arises from a neurological defect, nor have uniform findings been detected among respondents with ADHD [6]
The diagnosis and evaluation of children involves obtaining information from different sources, including interviews with parents or teachers, their filling out questionnaires, a clinical evaluation, and if necessary, neuropsychological or other tests [10, 11]. This may lead to overdiagnosis, or under-diagnosis
Summary
There has been a steady rise in the use of medication by Israeli school children to treat ADHD, partly due to what seems like school teachers’ and counselors’ tendency to express positive attitudes towards its use. The diagnosis and evaluation of children involves obtaining information from different sources, including interviews with parents or teachers, their filling out questionnaires, a clinical evaluation, and if necessary, neuropsychological or other tests [10, 11]. This may lead to overdiagnosis (diagnosis of children who do not have the disorder), or under-diagnosis (since the diagnosis often relies on subjective tools, the diagnostician may miss the disorder in a child). In recent years there has been a substantial effort to develop objective laboratory-based measures to support the clinical diagnosis [14,15,16]
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