Establishing the Research Priorities of ADHD Professionals: An International Delphi Study

Kate Stephens; Emma Sciberras; Matthew Bisset; Ainsley Summerton; David Coghill; Christel M Middeldorp; Leanne Payne; Mark A Bellgrove; Stephen V Faraone; Tobias Banaschewski; Jeffery H Newcorn; Stacey D Espinet; Iris Manor; Mohammed M J Alqahtani; Jeremy Varnham; Timothy J Silk

doi:10.1177/10870547241307739

Establishing the Research Priorities of ADHD Professionals: An International Delphi Study

J Atten Disord. 2024 Dec 25:10870547241307739. doi: 10.1177/10870547241307739. Online ahead of print.

Authors

Kate Stephens^{1

2}, Emma Sciberras^{1

2

3}, Matthew Bisset^{1

3

4}, Ainsley Summerton¹, David Coghill^{2

3

4}, Christel M Middeldorp^{5

6

7

8

9}, Leanne Payne^{8

9}, Mark A Bellgrove¹⁰, Stephen V Faraone¹¹, Tobias Banaschewski¹², Jeffery H Newcorn¹³, Stacey D Espinet¹⁴, Iris Manor¹⁵, Mohammed M J Alqahtani^{16

17}, Jeremy Varnham¹⁶, Timothy J Silk^{1

2}

Affiliations

¹ Deakin University, Melbourne, VIC, Australia.
² Murdoch Children's Research Institute, Melbourne, VIC, Australia.
³ The University of Melbourne, Parkville, VIC, Australia.
⁴ The Royal Children's Hospital, Parkville, VIC, Australia.
⁵ Amsterdam University Medical Center, The Netherlands.
⁶ Arkin Mental Health Care, Amsterdam, The Netherlands.
⁷ Academic Center for Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, Amsterdam, The Netherlands.
⁸ The University of Queensland, Brisbane, Australia.
⁹ Children's Health Queensland Hospital and Health Service, Brisbane, Australia.
¹⁰ Monash University, Melbourne, VIC, Australia.
¹¹ SUNY Upstate Medical University, Syracuse, USA.
¹² University of Heidelberg, MannheimPartner Site Mannheim-Heidelberg-Ulm, Germany.
¹³ Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, New York, NY, USA.
¹⁴ Canadian ADHD Resource Alliance, Toronto, ON, Canada.
¹⁵ Tel-Aviv University, Israel.
¹⁶ Saudi ADHD Society, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.
¹⁷ King Khalid University, Abha, Saudi Arabia.

PMID: 39720846
DOI: 10.1177/10870547241307739

Abstract

Objectives: To determine ADHD research priorities from the perspective of ADHD professionals internationally.

Method: A two-stage modified Delphi design was used. In Stage 1 (qualitative), participants listed research questions relating to ADHD that they perceived to be most important (N = 132). In Stage 2 (quantitative), participants were then asked to rate each research question that was deemed appropriate (able to be researched and not already addressed by research) in terms of perceived importance (N = 180).

Results: Stage 1 generated 382 research questions with 10 broad areas identified for example, co-occurring conditions and treatment, etc. The top 20 most important questions related to ADHD in women/girls, long-term medication use, non-pharmacological interventions, ADHD measurement/rating scales, and efficacy of emotional regulation interventions.

Conclusion: These results can inform an ADHD research agenda which represents the views of the individuals from major ADHD professional groups internationally. Parallel work is needed focusing on research priorities from the perspective of ADHD consumers.

Keywords: ADHD; priorities; research.