DIVA ADHD - Improving Adult ADHD Diagnosis
DIVA is a semistructured interview developed to enhance ADHD assessment for adults. This study will evaluate the reliability of the criteria used to determine DIVA 2.0 and its validity in conjunction with Conners Adult ADHD Diagnostic Interview for DSM-IV (CAADID) criteria.
Compared to the top 20 attributes, DIVA attributes that correlate strongest with diagnosis are attention deficit for both childhood and adulthood and hyperactivity/impulsivity for adults, followed by CAARS ADHD TT1 score and IOWA personality disorders evaluation.
Signs and symptoms
The symptoms of ADD/ADHD can affect every area of life from relationships and career advancement to the daily tasks that make up our lives. It is essential that our ADHD assessment takes a comprehensive view, examining how symptoms affect all aspects of our lives. Dr. Schilling will begin by evaluating your symptoms and medical history. She will then conduct an DIVA 5 assessment. This is a semi-structured interview which evaluates both the main symptoms and the impact of ADD/ADHD your life.
The DIVA is an interview tool for diagnosing ADHD. It was developed by psychiatrists and psychologists to determine adult ADHD symptoms. It has been demonstrated to have sound sensitivity and a high degree of specificity. It is also extremely effective in identifying those with the disorder. It can help raise awareness and help diagnose adult ADHD in Korea since it is the only validated semistructured diagnostic test available in the country.
A trained and experienced clinician, typically a psychiatrist will inquire about the most prominent symptoms of ADHD. These include inattention, hyperactivity and an impulsive nature. The clinician will also look at the background of the person, including their childhood experiences as well as their influence on their behavior. This is because the symptoms of ADHD do not just appear in a flash, they manifest through the teenage years, and through adulthood.
The DIVA can effectively identify people suffering from ADHD because it takes into account both the DSM-IV criteria for ADHD during childhood and into adulthood and how these symptoms have impacted the person's daily functioning in five areas of life: education and work, family/partnership relations social activities/leisure time and self-esteem and self-confidence. As a contrast other screening tools, such as the WURS-brief which was compared to the CAADID, showed poor accuracy and negative predictive values.
Diagnosis
To diagnose ADHD in adults, it is crucial to assess the symptoms and their history. This can be done through an extensive interview regarding childhood symptoms as well as an assessment of the neurocognitive. It is also important to look at the impact of the symptoms on the individual's life and work. This can be evaluated using a structured interview, the DIVA and, in some cases, asking for information from relatives and friends.
The DIVA interview is a semistructured, structured interview that was originally developed for adults in the Netherlands. It has been refined to be used in other countries, including Korea. This study evaluated the validity of the Korean version of DIVA (DIVA-5) in an adult clinical sample with ADHD.
During the DIVA the clinician will ask about ADHD symptoms in the early years of life and into adulthood. They will also inquire about the age at which they first noticed symptoms and the degree of impairment caused by these symptoms. The clinician also collects diverse set of sociodemographic data and asks about any mental health comorbidity.
Patients were assessed for psychiatric co-morbidity using the MINI-S plus version 5.0.0, the Brief Alcohol Related Neuropsychological Impairment Screening Instrument (BEARNI), and the Frontal Assessment Battery (FAB). Two psychiatrists who are experienced utilized the structured diagnostic interview DIVA-5 in order to determine a clinical diagnosis of ADHD. They assessed symptoms both in adulthood and childhood, and determined the duration of symptoms.
The sensitivity and specificity of DIVA-5 was found to be high for both inattention and hyperactivity/impulsivity symptoms in childhood and adulthood. This diagnostic tool has good concurrent validity when compared to the WURS scale, and has fair validity when compared to three self-report ratings instruments which include the ASRS (self-report rating), FAB (self-report rating), and Sheehan’s Dysfunction Inventory.
The sensitivity and specificity of the DIVA-5 was found to be high for all subtypes of ADHD in both inattention and hyperactivity/impulsivity in adulthood and during childhood. The accuracy of the DIVA-5's diagnosis was found to be similar to the accuracy of clinical diagnosis given by two psychiatrists. This was in line with the specificity and sensitivity of previous screening tools like the ASRS and the WURS.
Treatment
If you're not aware of ADHD it can greatly affect your life. This could be in a variety of areas, from relationships, work and academic progress to the basic tasks of organising your day-to-day life. Iampsychiatry can help you recognize your strengths and weaknesses, as well as provide solutions to help you manage your symptoms and mechanisms.
A trained psychologist (typically psychiatrists or psychologist) will conduct a structured conversation with you using the DIVA-5 tool to evaluate your current symptoms. It will include standardised questions regarding your levels of hyperactivity, inattention and impulsivity. It will also examine your personal history and your childhood experiences to create the full picture of your symptoms.
This method is crucial to a thorough adult ADHD diagnosis. It also helps us understand the root causes of your symptoms, which helps determine the best treatment for you.
The DIVA assessment is an extremely efficient method of diagnosing adult ADHD and has excellent sensitivity and specificity. It has also been shown to be valid as a criterion, when compared to self-report scales for rating such as the Wender Utah Rating Scale (WURS) and the ADHD-Rating Scale. It has good concurrent validity these scales and has reasonable validity with Sheehan's Dysfunction Inventory.
Unlike the more traditional methods for assessing ADHD in adults, the DIVA assessment focuses on identifying and discussing symptoms that occur both during the teen years and into adulthood, increasing the accuracy of the diagnosis and allowing an easier comparison of the sociodemographic characteristics of both groups. The DIVA evaluation also offers an opportunity to consider the effects of co-occurring disorders on the manifestation of ADHD symptoms.
If your Psychologist is unable to recommend treatment, it might be necessary to set up an appointment with a Pediatrician or Psychiatrist to further assess and/or therapy. You can be referred an expert psychologist for a more thorough evaluation of your symptoms and to determine if there is any co-occurring or different diagnoses. This includes assessing any comorbid disorders, such as anxiety or depression. This will allow your Psychologist to recommend the best treatment plan.
Getting Started
Being diagnosed with ADHD can have a profound impact on your life and provide explanations for lingering issues and opening doors to effective treatment options. However, a good evaluation requires the expertise of experienced medical experts. The DIVA ADHD assessment is a structured and extensive tool that assists to improve the accuracy of an adult ADHD diagnosis by evaluating symptoms across different life stages. It also detects patterns of behavior that persist of behavior, and distinguishes between ADHD symptoms and those of other disorders which may have similar symptoms in adults, like depression or anxiety.
In an DIVA ADHD assessment, a doctor conducts an interview to ask an array of questions about symptoms of inattention, hyperactivity and an impulsiveness. The clinician evaluates the severity, frequency and duration of these symptoms in order to understand how they impact on the individual's life and how they function in various environments. This information can be used to create an accurate diagnosis.
The DIVA assessment has been validated against other diagnostic tools and shows high sensitivity in comparison to the WURS-brief and CAA-DID as well as the assessment of a psychiatrist. It also has excellent accuracy when measuring ADHD symptoms in five areas of daily functioning: work and education as well as relationships, home and family social interactions; leisure time and hobbies.
For an authentic DIVA assessment, the person being evaluated, their family members and friends must be present. This will help build trust and a strong therapeutic bond, which will be essential to the success of your evaluation.
A psychiatrist or psychologist with experience in the DIVA ADHD assessment can provide an extensive professional report. This report will present the findings of the assessment and recommend a treatment plan based on the evidence.
If you think you or a loved one may be suffering from ADHD Contact us for an appointment. Our doctor Kate Schilling has been trained in the use of the DIVA ADHD assessments and is able to give a thorough assessment. She can then provide a referral to a specialist to create an effective treatment strategy. Be aware that the treatment plan recommended is a combination of medications and psychotherapy.