DIVA ADHD - Improving Adult ADHD Diagnosis
DIVA is a semi-structured, structured interview designed to enhance ADHD assessments for adults. This study will evaluate the reliability of the criteria used to determine 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 daily tasks we do. It is important that our ADHD assessment is a holistic approach, looking at how the symptoms affect all aspects of life. In your assessment, Dr. Schilling will start by gathering details of your symptoms and health background. She will then conduct the DIVA 5 assessment, a semi-structured interview designed to evaluate both the core symptoms of ADD/ADHD and the impact these symptoms have had on your life.
The DIVA is an interviewing tool developed by psychiatrists and psychotherapists to evaluate the symptoms of adult ADHD. It has been proven to have a high sensitivity to sound and a high degree of specificity. It is highly effective at identifying those who have the disorder. It is able to raise awareness and help diagnose adult ADHD in Korea as it is the only validated semistructured diagnosis interview available in the country.
A trained and experienced clinician, typically a psychiatrist will ask questions to determine the most prominent symptoms of ADHD. how to get a adhd assessment include hyperactivity, inattention, and impulsivity. The clinician will also delve into the background of the individual, looking at their childhood experiences and how those may influence their present behavior. The symptoms of ADHD don't appear in a flash. They develop over a time, from childhood to teen years and into adulthood.
The DIVA can efficiently identify those with ADHD by taking into consideration both the DSM-IV criteria for ADHD in adulthood and childhood and how these symptoms have impacted the individual's daily functioning in five areas of life - education work, family/partner relationships, family social activities/leisure time and self-esteem and confidence in oneself. Contrary to this, other screening tools such as the WURS-brief, which was compared with the CAADID, showed poor sensitiveness and negative predictive value.
Diagnosis
To determine ADHD in adults it is crucial to assess the symptoms as well as their background. This can be done with an extensive interview about childhood symptoms and a neurological examination. It is also important to assess the effects of the symptoms on the person's life and work. This can be determined using a structured interview, the DIVA and, in some cases, asking for information from family members and friends.
The DIVA interview is a semistructured interview originally designed for adults in the Netherlands. It has been refined to be used in other countries including Korea. This study examined the validity of 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 first manifest, as well as the extent of impairment resulting from those symptoms. The clinician will also collect various sociodemographic data and ask about any psychiatric-related co-morbidity.
Patients were screened 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). A diagnosis of clinical ADHD was made by two psychiatrists with experience who used the structured diagnostic interview DIVA-5 to assess symptoms in both adulthood and 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 concordance with the WURS scale, and 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 DIVA-5's diagnostic accuracy was found to be comparable to the accuracy of a clinical diagnoses made by two psychiatrists. This was in accordance with the sensitivity and specificity of previous screening tools such as the ASRS and the WURS.
Treatment
If you're not aware of ADHD it could significantly affect your life. It can affect many areas from your relationships, academic and work progress to the basic tasks of organising your day-to-day life. A diagnosis can help you determine your strengths and weaknesses, as well as provide treatment options to improve your symptoms and coping mechanism.
A qualified clinician (typically psychiatrists or psychologist) will conduct a structured discussion with you using the DIVA-5 tool to evaluate your current symptoms. It will include standardised questions about your levels of hyperactivity, attention deficit and impulsivity. It will also look into your personal history, including your childhood experiences, to gain a complete understanding of your symptoms and their impact on your life.
This approach is crucial to ensure a thorough diagnosis of adult ADHD. This allows us to better understand your symptoms and inform your treatment.
The DIVA assessment is a highly efficient method of diagnosing adult ADHD and has high sensitivity and precision. It has also been shown to be a good criterion-validated test when compared to self-report scales such as Wender Utah Rating Scales (WURS) or the ADHD-Rating Scale. It has good concurrency with these and fair validity with Sheehan's Dysfunction Inventory.
In contrast to the more conventional methods for assessing ADHD in adults, the DIVA assessment is focused on identifying and discussing the symptoms that occur both during childhood and adulthood, thereby increasing the accuracy of diagnosis and allowing for a more accurate comparison between sociodemographic traits of the two groups. The DIVA evaluation also gives an opportunity to consider the effect of co-occurring disorders on the manifestation of ADHD symptoms.
If your Psychologist is not able to recommend treatment, it might be necessary to make an appointment with a pediatrician or Psychiatrist for further assessment and/or therapy. You can be referred to an expert psychologist for a more thorough evaluation of your symptoms and to determine if there is any co-occurring or differential diagnoses. This includes assessing any comorbid disorders, such as anxiety or depression. This will enable your Psychologist to suggest the best treatment plan.
Getting Started
A diagnosis of ADHD can transform your life. It can provide answers to persistent problems and opens the way to effective treatment options. However, a good evaluation requires the expertise of qualified medical experts. The DIVA ADHD assessment, a structured and extensive tool, helps improve adult ADHD diagnosis accuracy by analyzing symptoms at different life stages. It also identifies patterns of behavior that remain and assists in determining the difference between ADHD symptoms and other disorders, such as depression or anxiety.
In an DIVA ADHD evaluation, a practitioner will conduct an organized interview to ask a series questions regarding symptoms such as hyperactivity, inattention and the tendency to be impulsive. The clinician assesses the frequency, severity and duration of these symptoms in order to understand how they impact the individual's life and how they function in a variety of environments. This information can be used to determine an accurate diagnosis.
The DIVA assessment has been validated against other diagnostic tools and has shown high sensitivity when compared with the WURS-brief, CAA DID and a psychiatrist's assessment. It also has excellent accuracy when it comes to assessing ADHD symptoms in five areas of daily functioning: education and work as well as relationships, family and home social interactions; leisure time and hobbies.
For an accurate DIVA assessment, the individual being assessed and their family members and friends must be present. This will help to build trust and strengthen the therapeutic bond that will be crucial to the success of the assessment.
An experienced psychologist or psychiatrist who is trained in the use of the DIVA ADHD assessment can provide a comprehensive report. The report will detail the findings of the test and recommend a treatment program based on the evidence.
Contact us to make an appointment if you think you or someone you love might be suffering from ADHD. Our doctor Kate Schilling has been trained in the use of DIVA ADHD assessments and is able to give a thorough assessment. She will then make an appointment with a specialist to develop an effective treatment plan. Please be aware that the recommended treatment approach is a combination of medication and psychotherapy.