DIVA ADHD - Improving Adult ADHD Diagnosis
DIVA is an interview with a semistructured format that was developed to enhance ADHD assessment for adults. This study is designed to assess the criterion validity of DIVA 2.0 and its concurrent validity in comparison 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
ADD/ADHD symptoms affect all aspects of our lives from relationships to career advancement and the everyday tasks we have to perform. It is crucial that our ADHD assessment takes a comprehensive view, examining how symptoms impact every aspect of our lives. During your assessment, Dr Schilling will start by gathering details of your symptoms and health background. She will then conduct an DIVA 5 assessment. This is a semi-structured, structured interview which evaluates both the main symptoms and the impact of ADD/ADHD on 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 proven to have high sensitivity and a high degree of specificity. It is highly effective at identifying those who have the disorder. It has the potential to raise awareness of, and the diagnosis of adult ADHD in Korea because it is the only validated semi-structured diagnostic test for adults with ADHD available in the country.
A trained clinician, usually a psychiatrist will ask questions to determine the primary symptoms of ADHD. These include hyperactivity, inattention, and impulsivity. The doctor will also dig into the background of the individual and examine their childhood experiences and how those may influence their present behavior. The symptoms of ADHD are not sudden. They appear over a long period of time, from childhood to teen years and then into adulthood.
The DIVA can efficiently identify people suffering from ADHD by taking into account both the DSM-IV criteria for ADHD in adulthood and childhood and how these symptoms have impacted the individual's daily functioning in five distinct areas of life: education work, family/partner relationships, family and leisure time/social activities, and self-esteem and confidence in oneself. Other screening tools, for instance the WURS brief that was compared with the CAADID demonstrated low sensitivity and negative predictive value.
Diagnosis
In order to diagnose ADHD in adults, it is essential to determine the severity of the symptoms and their causes. This can be done through an extensive interview regarding childhood symptoms as well as an assessment of the neurocognitive. It is important to consider the impact that the symptoms can have on a person's work and daily life. This can be determined using a structured clinical interview, called the DIVA and, in some instances, getting information from friends and family members.
The DIVA is an interview that is semi-structured and was initially designed for use with adults in the Netherlands. It has been re-edited for use in other countries including Korea. This study examined the validity of the criterion used to determine the Korean version of DIVA (DIVA-5) in a clinical sample of adults with ADHD.
During the DIVA the doctor asks about the presence of ADHD symptoms in childhood and into adulthood, the age at which the symptoms begin to manifest, and the severity of impairment resulting from those symptoms. The clinician will also collect various sociodemographic data and inquire about any psychiatric co-morbidity.
Patients were examined for psychiatric comorbidity using the MINI-S plus version 5.0.0 and the Brief Alcohol Related Neuropsychological Impairment Screening Instrument (BEARNI), and the Frontal Assessment Battery (FAB). Two psychiatrists with experience utilized the structured diagnostic interview DIVA-5 in order to establish a clinical diagnosis of ADHD. They assessed symptoms in adulthood as well as 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 was found to have good compatibility with the WURS scale as well as fair concurrent validity with three self-report rating instruments: ASRS, FAB, 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 diagnostics was found to be similar to the accuracy of clinical diagnoses made by two psychiatrists. This was in line with the sensitivity and specificity of earlier screening tools, such as ASRS and WURS.
Treatment
If you are not diagnosed with ADHD it could significantly affect your life. This can affect your relationships, academic performance, and work. It can also impact how you organize your day-to-day life. A diagnosis can help identify your strengths and weaknesses and also offer treatment options to improve your symptoms and coping mechanism.
A trained clinician (typically a psychiatrist or a psychologist) will have a structured conversation with you, using the DIVA-5 instrument to assess your current symptoms. This will consist of standardised questions about your levels of hyperactivity, inattention, and an impulsiveness. It will also delve into your personal history, including childhood experiences, to gain a complete understanding of your symptoms and their impacts on your life.
This approach is crucial to ensure a complete diagnosis of adult ADHD. It also allows us to understand the root causes of your symptoms, which helps guide your treatment.
adhd assessment is a highly effective way of diagnosing adult ADHD with high sensitivity and precision. It has also been proven to be valid as a criterion when compared with 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 good validity with Sheehan's Dysfunction Inventory.
The DIVA assessment, in contrast to more traditional methods of measuring ADHD in adulthood, focuses on identifying symptoms that are present in childhood and adults. This increases the accuracy of diagnosis and allows a more accurate comparison of sociodemographic traits between the two groups. The DIVA assessment can also be used to assess the effects of coexisting disorders on symptoms and severity of ADHD symptoms.
If your Psychologist cannot recommend medication, you may need to make an appointment with a psychiatrist or a paediatrician for a more thorough evaluation and/or treatment. You can be referred to psychologists who specialize in more in-depth assessment of your symptoms and to determine if there are any co-occurring or different diagnoses. This includes assessing for comorbid conditions such as depression and anxiety. This will allow your Psychologist to recommend the best treatment plan.
Getting Started
A diagnosis of ADHD can change your life. It provides answers to persistent problems and opens the way to effective treatment options. A successful evaluation requires the expertise of qualified healthcare providers. The DIVA ADHD assessment is a standardized and comprehensive tool that can help to improve the accuracy of adult ADHD diagnosis by evaluating symptoms across different life stages. It also identifies patterns of behavior that remain and helps distinguish between ADHD symptoms and other disorders like depression or anxiety.
In the course of a DIVA ADHD evaluation, a practitioner will conduct a structured interview in order to ask a series of questions regarding symptoms such as hyperactivity, inattention and an impulsiveness. The doctor evaluates the severity, frequency and duration of symptoms to determine how they affect an person in various settings. This information can then be utilized to establish a precise diagnosis.
The DIVA assessment has been verified against other diagnostic tools and exhibits high sensitivity when compared with the WURS-brief and CAA-DID as well as an assessment by a psychiatrist. It also has excellent reliability when it comes to measuring ADHD symptoms in five areas of daily functioning: education and work; relationships; family and home; social contacts; and free time and leisure.
For an accurate DIVA assessment, the person being evaluated as well as their family and friends need to be present. This will help build trust and create a therapeutic bond that will be essential to the success of the evaluation.
A psychiatrist or psychologist with expertise in the DIVA ADHD assessment can provide a detailed professional report. The report will detail the findings of the test and recommend a treatment plan based on the evidence.
If you suspect that you or a loved one might be suffering from ADHD, please contact us to make an appointment. Our doctor Kate Schilling has been trained in the use of the DIVA ADHD assessments and can provide a thorough evaluation. She will refer you to an expert who will create a treatment strategy. Please be aware that a combination of medication and psychotherapy is the recommended treatment.