How To Beat Your Boss On Diva ADHD Assessment
DIVA ADHD - Improving Adult ADHD Diagnosis
DIVA is a semi-structured, structured interview that was developed to improve ADHD assessments in adults. This study aims at evaluating the criterion valid of DIVA 2.0 as well as its validity in conjunction with Conners Adult ADHD Diagnosis Interview for DSM-IV 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 impact all aspects of life from relationships and career advancement to the daily tasks that make up our lives. It is crucial that our ADHD assessment takes a comprehensive perspective, looking at how symptoms affect all aspects of life. Dr. Schilling will begin by evaluating your symptoms and medical history. She will then conduct the DIVA 5 assessment, a semi-structured interview that is designed to assess the main symptoms of ADD/ADHD as well as how they have affected your life.
The DIVA is an interviewing tool developed by psychiatrists and psychotherapists to assess symptoms of adult ADHD. It has been demonstrated to have a high sensitivity to sound and specificity. It is also extremely effective in identifying those with the disorder. It has the potential to increase awareness of, and diagnose the condition of adult ADHD in Korea, as it is the only validated semi-structured diagnostic interview for adults suffering from ADHD available in the country.
A qualified clinician, typically psychiatrists will ask questions to determine the core symptoms of ADHD. These include inattention, hyperactivity and an impulsive nature. The clinician will also look at the history of the individual, including their childhood experiences as well as their impact on their current behaviours. This is because the symptoms of ADHD do not just appear suddenly, they develop through the teenage years, and even into adulthood.
The DIVA can effectively identify people suffering from ADHD because it takes into account both the DSM-IV criteria for ADHD in adulthood and childhood and how the symptoms have affected the person's daily functioning in five areas of life: education and work, family/partnership relations social activities/leisure time and self-esteem and confidence in oneself. Other screening tools, for instance the WURS brief, which was compared with the CAADID demonstrated low sensitivity and negative predictive value.
Diagnosis
To determine ADHD in adults it is important that you evaluate the symptoms and their background. This can be done through an extensive interview regarding childhood symptoms as well as an assessment of neurocognitive capacity. It is important to consider the impact that the symptoms have on the person's job and daily life. This can be evaluated conducting a structured interview the DIVA and, in some instances, obtaining information from family and friends.
The DIVA is an interview with a semi-structured format that was first developed for use with adults in the Netherlands. It has been refined for use in other countries including Korea. This study looked at the validity of the Korean version of DIVA (DIVA-5) in an adult clinical sample with ADHD.
During the DIVA the doctor will inquire about ADHD symptoms during the early years and in adulthood. They will also ask the age at which symptoms first started to manifest symptoms and the degree of impairment triggered by these symptoms. The doctor also collects a diverse set of sociodemographic data and inquires about any psychosis-related comorbidity.
The MINI-S plus Version 5.0.0, the Brief Alcohol Related Neuropsychological Impaired Screening Instrument (BEARNI) as well as the Frontal Assessment Battery were used to detect psychiatric co-morbidity. A diagnosis of clinical ADHD was established by two experienced psychiatrists who utilized the DIVA-5 structured diagnostic interview to evaluate symptoms in both the early years and in childhood, and determine the duration of those 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 shown to have good concurrent validity with the WURS scale as well as fair concurrent validity with three self-report rating instruments: the 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 comparable to the accuracy of a clinical diagnosis made by two psychiatrists. This was in accordance with the sensitivity and specificity of earlier screening tools, such ASRS and WURS.
Treatment
If you are not diagnosed with ADHD, it can significantly impact your life. This could be in a variety of areas from your relationships, academic and work progress to the simple tasks of organising your day-to-day life. A diagnosis can help you identify your strengths and weaknesses as well as offer treatments that can improve your symptoms and coping mechanisms.
A qualified clinician (typically psychiatrists or psychologist) will have a structured conversation with you, using the DIVA-5 tool to assess your current symptoms. This will consist of standardised questions about your levels of hyperactivity, inattention, and the tendency to be impulsive. It will also dig into your personal history, including childhood experiences to give you the full picture of the symptoms you are experiencing.
This method is essential to ensure a complete diagnosis of adult ADHD. It also allows us to determine the root of your symptoms, which can help determine the best treatment for you.
The DIVA assessment is a highly efficient method of diagnosing adults with ADHD and has high sensitivity and specificity. It has also been proven to have sound criterion validity, when compared to self-report scales for rating such as the Wender Utah Rating Scale (WURS) and the ADHD-Rating Scale. It has good concurrency with these scales and has reasonable validity with Sheehan's Dysfunction Inventory.
The DIVA assessment, in contrast to more traditional methods of testing ADHD in adulthood, focuses on identifying the symptoms that occur during childhood and into adulthood. This improves the accuracy of diagnoses and allows for a more accurate comparison of sociodemographic traits between the two groups. The DIVA assessment also permits consideration of the effects of coexisting disorders on presentation and severity of ADHD symptoms.
If your Psychologist is unable to prescribe medication, you might require an appointment with a Psychiatrist or a Paediatrician to discuss further evaluation and/or treatment. They will then refer you to a specialist Psychologist for further in-depth analysis of your symptoms, and to determine if there are any co-occurring diagnoses or differential diagnoses. This includes assessing any comorbid conditions, such as anxiety or depression. This will enable your Psychologist the best treatment plan.
Getting Started
A diagnosis of ADHD can change your life. It offers solutions to long-standing problems and opens the way to effective treatment options. However, a reliable assessment requires the expertise of qualified healthcare experts. The DIVA ADHD assessment, which is a structured and comprehensive tool, helps improve adult ADHD diagnosis accuracy by evaluating symptoms at different life stages. It also identifies patterns of behavior that persist and helps distinguish between ADHD symptoms and other disorders like anxiety or depression.
In the DIVA ADHD assessment, a doctor conducts an interview to ask several questions regarding symptoms of hyperactivity, inattention and the tendency to be impulsive. The clinician evaluates the severity, frequency, and duration of symptoms to determine the extent to which they affect the individual in different settings. This information can be used to create an accurate diagnosis.
The DIVA assessment is validated in comparison to other diagnostic tools. It has a high sensitivity when compared to CAA-DIDs, WURS-briefs and psychiatrist's tests. It also has excellent reliability in assessing ADHD in five areas of daily function: work and education, relationships home and family social interactions, free time and hobbies.
To be able to conduct a valid DIVA assessment, the person being evaluated as well as their family and friends need to be present. This helps build trust and create a strong therapeutic bond, which will be crucial to the success of your assessment.
A psychiatrist or psychologist with experience in the DIVA ADHD assessment can give an in-depth professional report. This report will outline the findings of the test and recommend a treatment plan that is based on the data.
Contact us to make an appointment if you or someone you know might have ADHD. Iampsychiatry is trained in the DIVA ADHD assessment and can perform an evaluation. She can then provide an appointment with a specialist to create an effective treatment plan. Be aware that the recommended treatment approach is a combination of medication and psychotherapy.