Adult ADHD Self-Report Scale: Implementation in a Primary Care Setting

Abstract

Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) is a chronic, highly prevalent, neurodevelopment disorder in children, which often persists into adulthood. A gap exists among healthcare providers' knowledge of adult ADHD and current screening practices in the primary care setting. The purpose of the project was to improve screening and identification of adult ADHD in the primary care setting by enhancing provider knowledge and awareness of the disorder. A need was identified at a small, rural, facility in Midwestern, North Dakota to improve adult ADHD screening practices; thus the adult ADHD Self-Report Scale version 1.1 (ASRSv1.1) was implemented among a group of providers for a five month time period. The ASRSv1.1 is a six question rating scale which was created by a group of ADHD experts and copyrighted by the World Health Organization. The sensitivity of the tool is 68.7 percent while the specificity rate is a remarkable 99.5 percent. For the practice improvement project, providers were instructed to screen patients displaying signs and/or symptoms of inattention, hyperactivity, impulsivity, depression, anxiety, substance abuse, etc. If the screen was found to be a positive, recommendations were to refer the patient to a mental healthcare professional. The results of the project demonstrated an overall improvement in the screening process for adult ADHD. An increase of patients referred for further diagnostic testing of adult ADHD was found. Providers felt the ASRS v1.1 was a helpful in screening and determining the course of care for the patient. Recommendations from the practice improvement project for future research include replicating the study with a larger sample size; providing easy access to the ASRS v1.1; and screening patients identified as routinely missing appointments for ADHD.