Community Attitudes Towards People With ADHD Generally Negative

Community attitudes towards individuals with attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) are “generally negative,” but targeted mental health literacy efforts aimed at providing information and education could improve those attitudes, according to a systematic review published online in the Journal of Attention Disorders.

Researchers analyzed 10 peer-reviewed studies published between January 2014 and February 2020, 9 of which focused on attitudes of broader community samples. Common themes from the selected studies were knowledge of ADHD, attitudes toward medication and treatment, and desire for maintaining social distance. The study was commissioned by the Australian ADHD Professionals Association, Victoria.

The reported negative attitudes stemmed from the perceptions that ADHD is overdiagnosed and therefore overmedicated. Perspectives on medication differed when given a psychosocial versus a biological explanation for ADHD symptoms. A biological explanation for ADHD in children decreased confidence that interventions could treat ADHD symptoms but increased confidence in treatment with medication.

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Participants also indicated that they felt individuals with ADHD are more likely to exhibit poor behavior and a desire to maintain social distance from those displaying ADHD behaviors.

"On a more positive note, there was general agreement across studies in the current review that knowledge, recognition of, and familiarity with ADHD tends to protect against negative attitudes," researchers wrote.

Due to these findings, the researchers suggest that approaches such as targeted mental health literacy efforts aimed at providing information and education could improve the broader community's attitudes towards those with ADHD. Possible interventions could be informational websites, mental health first aid training, or population health education campaigns.

"More representative population-based research with comparable methodologies should be conducted in order to confirm attitudes currently held by the broader community toward ADHD," researchers wrote in the study.

—Meagan Thistle

Reference

Bisset M, Winter L, Middeldorp CM, et al. Recent attitudes toward ADHD in the broader community: a systematic review. Journal of Attention Disorders. 2021 March 26;[Epub ahead of print].