| Title |
Parents, ADHD and the internet
|
|---|---|
| Published in |
ADHD Attention Deficit and Hyperactivity Disorders, June 2012
|
| DOI | 10.1007/s12402-012-0081-7 |
| Pubmed ID | |
| Authors |
Sylvia Terbeck, L. Paul Chesterman |
| Abstract |
The objective of this study is to examine the potential impact of using the internet on medical consultations by analysing the attitudes, attributions, and emotional responses of parents who have been informed by specialists that their child does not have attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) and to examine the nature of the feedback they obtained from members of online internet support groups. Over 40,000 messages from the five most popular international internet forums discussing children with ADHD were analysed. Messages from parents who reported that they had seen at least one specialist (e.g. paediatrician, psychiatrist or psychologist) because of their concerns that their child had ADHD were identified. The children included boys and girls with an age range from 2 to 16 years. Of these, we analysed messages where the parents additionally reported that the specialist had excluded a diagnosis of ADHD. Using these criteria, 91 messages from parents who had consulted over 200 different specialists and 398 replies to these messages were identified for content analysis. The replies to concerned parents were analysed to determine whether they were offered impartial advice. A majority of the parents reported that they did not believe the specialist and were unhappy about their child not being diagnosed with ADHD. They expressed dissatisfaction with the professional's opinions and the implication that their child's conduct was caused by their poor parenting skills. Importantly, 87.6 % of the responses that these parents received, from other members of online forums, reinforced the parent's negative attitude towards the professional's judgement. It was generally suggested that the parents should not believe the expert and should seek a further opinion. The use of the internet may encourage "doctor shopping" and mistrust in health services. Medical professionals and others may need to be aware of this, and parents may need more support than is generally offered to be able to accept alternative explanations for their child's behaviour. |
X Demographics
The data shown below were collected from the profiles of 2 X users who shared this research output. Click here to find out more about how the information was compiled.
Geographical breakdown
| Country | Count | As % |
|---|---|---|
| Unknown | 2 | 100% |
Demographic breakdown
| Type | Count | As % |
|---|---|---|
| Members of the public | 2 | 100% |
Mendeley readers
The data shown below were compiled from readership statistics for 64 Mendeley readers of this research output. Click here to see the associated Mendeley record.
Geographical breakdown
| Country | Count | As % |
|---|---|---|
| Unknown | 64 | 100% |
Demographic breakdown
| Readers by professional status | Count | As % |
|---|---|---|
| Student > Master | 12 | 19% |
| Student > Bachelor | 11 | 17% |
| Researcher | 7 | 11% |
| Student > Doctoral Student | 5 | 8% |
| Student > Postgraduate | 5 | 8% |
| Other | 15 | 23% |
| Unknown | 9 | 14% |
| Readers by discipline | Count | As % |
|---|---|---|
| Psychology | 24 | 38% |
| Medicine and Dentistry | 13 | 20% |
| Computer Science | 5 | 8% |
| Social Sciences | 4 | 6% |
| Nursing and Health Professions | 2 | 3% |
| Other | 8 | 13% |
| Unknown | 8 | 13% |
Attention Score in Context
This research output has an Altmetric Attention Score of 2. This is our high-level measure of the quality and quantity of online attention that it has received. This Attention Score, as well as the ranking and number of research outputs shown below, was calculated when the research output was last mentioned on 03 May 2022.
All research outputs
#16,237,186
of 25,654,806 outputs
Outputs from ADHD Attention Deficit and Hyperactivity Disorders
#121
of 186 outputs
Outputs of similar age
#108,741
of 178,053 outputs
Outputs of similar age from ADHD Attention Deficit and Hyperactivity Disorders
#7
of 10 outputs
Altmetric has tracked 25,654,806 research outputs across all sources so far. This one is in the 34th percentile – i.e., 34% of other outputs scored the same or lower than it.
So far Altmetric has tracked 186 research outputs from this source. They typically receive a lot more attention than average, with a mean Attention Score of 14.3. This one is in the 32nd percentile – i.e., 32% of its peers scored the same or lower than it.
Older research outputs will score higher simply because they've had more time to accumulate mentions. To account for age we can compare this Altmetric Attention Score to the 178,053 tracked outputs that were published within six weeks on either side of this one in any source. This one is in the 36th percentile – i.e., 36% of its contemporaries scored the same or lower than it.
We're also able to compare this research output to 10 others from the same source and published within six weeks on either side of this one. This one has scored higher than 3 of them.