Diva ADHD Assessment The Process Isn't As Hard As You Think
DIVA ADHD - Improving Adult ADHD Diagnosis
DIVA is a semi-structured interview designed to enhance ADHD assessments for adults. This study will evaluate the criterion validity of DIVA 2.0 and its validity in conjunction 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.
Symptoms
The symptoms of ADD/ADHD impact all aspects of life including relationships and career advancement to the everyday tasks that make up our lives. This is why it's important that our ADHD assessments adopt a holistic approach and look at how the symptoms affect all aspects of our lives. Dr. Schilling will begin by evaluating your symptoms and medical history. She will then conduct the DIVA 5 assessment, a semi-structured interview designed to evaluate the main symptoms of ADD/ADHD and how they have affected your life.
The DIVA is a diagnostic interview tool developed by psychiatrists and psychologists to evaluate adult ADHD symptoms. It has been proven to have sound sensitivity and a high degree of specificity. It is extremely effective in identifying people suffering from the disorder. It can help raise awareness and diagnose adult ADHD in Korea as it is the only validated semistructured diagnostic test available in the country.
A trained and experienced clinician, typically a psychiatrist, will ask questions to determine the core symptoms of ADHD. These include hyperactivity, inattention and the tendency to be impulsive. The clinician will also examine the history of the individual, including their childhood experiences and the impact on their current behaviours. This is because the signs of ADHD don't just emerge at a moment's notice, they are developed through the teenage years, and even into adulthood.
The DIVA can effectively identify those with ADHD by taking into account both the DSM-IV criteria for ADHD during childhood and into adulthood and how the symptoms have impacted the person's daily functioning in five areas of life - education, work, family/partner relations social activities/leisure time and self-esteem and self-confidence. Contrary to this other screening tools, like the WURS-brief which was compared to CAADID, showed poor sensitivity and negative predictive values.
Diagnosis
To determine the presence of ADHD in adults, it is crucial to assess the signs and symptoms along with their background. This can be done through an extensive interview regarding childhood symptoms and an assessment of the neurological. It is also important to look at the impact of the symptoms on the person's work and life. This can be assessed using a structured clinical interview, the DIVA and, in certain instances, asking for information from family members and friends.
The DIVA interview is a semistructured, structured interview that was originally designed for adults in the Netherlands. It has been refined for use in other countries, including Korea. This study looked at the criteria valid of the Korean version (DIVA-5) using a clinical sample consisting of adults suffering from ADHD.
During the DIVA the doctor will inquire about ADHD symptoms during childhood and adulthood. They will also ask the age at which symptoms first started to manifest symptoms and the level of impairment triggered by these symptoms. The doctor also collects a variety of sociodemographic information and asks about any mental health 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). A diagnosis of clinical ADHD was established by two experienced psychiatrists who used the structured diagnostic interview DIVA-5 to determine the severity of symptoms in the early years and in childhood, and determine the duration of these 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 concordance 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 diagnosis of the DIVA-5 was found to be comparable to that of a clinical diagnosis formulated by two renowned psychiatrists. This was in agreement with the specificity and sensitivity of earlier screening tools, such as the ASRS and the WURS.
Treatment
Undiagnosed ADHD can have a major impact on your daily life. It can affect many areas from your relationships, academic and work progress to the simple task of organising daily living. A diagnosis can help you determine your strengths and weaknesses, and provide treatment options to alleviate your symptoms and cope mechanisms.
A trained clinician, usually a psychiatrist or psychologist, will conduct an in-depth interview with you regarding your current symptoms using the DIVA-5 assessment tool. This will involve asking standardised questions about your levels hyperactivity, inattention and an impulsiveness. It will also examine your personal history, including childhood experiences to get the full picture of your symptoms.
This approach is essential to a thorough adult ADHD diagnosis. This helps us better understand your symptoms and inform your treatment.
The DIVA assessment is an extremely efficient method of diagnosing adult ADHD, with high sensitivity and precision. It has also been demonstrated to have sound criterion validity when compared with self-report scales for rating such as the Wender Utah Rating Scale (WURS) and the ADHD-Rating Scale. It has good concordance validity with these scales and fair validity with Sheehan’s Dysfunction Inventory.
The DIVA assessment, in contrast to traditional methods for testing ADHD in adulthood, focuses on identifying symptoms that manifest in the teen years and in adulthood. This increases the accuracy of the diagnoses and allows for a more precise comparison of sociodemographic characteristics between the two groups. The DIVA evaluation also gives an opportunity to think about the effects of co-occurring disorders on appearance of ADHD symptoms.
If your Psychologist is not able to recommend treatment, it might be necessary to set up an appointment with a Paediatrician or Psychiatrist for further assessment and/or therapy. You can be referred to a specialist psychologist for a thorough assessment of your symptoms and to determine if there are any co-occurring diagnoses or differential diagnoses. This includes assessing co-occurring conditions, like depression or anxiety. This will allow your Psychologist to recommend the best treatment plan.
Getting Started
A diagnosis of ADHD can alter your life. It can provide answers to long-standing problems and opens the way to effective treatment options. A thorough evaluation requires the expertise of qualified healthcare providers. The DIVA ADHD assessment, a well-structured and extensive tool, helps to improve the adult ADHD diagnosis accuracy by evaluating symptoms at various stages of life. It also identifies patterns of behavior that are persistent and aids in distinguishing between ADHD symptoms and other conditions, such as depression or anxiety.
In 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 the tendency to be impulsive. The doctor evaluates the severity, frequency and duration of these symptoms to determine how they impact the individual's life and functioning in a variety of settings. This information can be utilized to establish a precise diagnosis.
The DIVA test is validated in comparison with other diagnostic tools. It has high sensitivity compared to WURS-briefs, CAA-DIDs and psychiatrist's assessments. It also has a high degree of validity for assessing ADHD in five areas of daily function such as education and work, relationships with family and home, social contacts, and free time and hobbies.
A valid DIVA assessment requires participation from the person being evaluated as well as their close family members and their friends. Iam Psychiatry will help build trust and create a therapeutic bond that is essential for the success of the evaluation.
A psychiatrist or psychologist with expertise in the DIVA ADHD assessment can provide a detailed professional report. This report will outline the findings of the assessment and suggest a treatment plan based on the evidence.
If you think you or someone you love may be suffering from ADHD If you suspect that someone you know may have ADHD, please call us to make an appointment. Our doctor Kate Schilling is trained in the DIVA ADHD assessment and can perform an assessment. She can then make an appointment with a specialist to create an effective treatment plan. Please be aware that the recommended treatment method is a combination of medications and psychotherapy.