Diva ADHD Assessment: What Nobody Is Discussing

DIVA ADHD - Improving Adult ADHD Diagnosis

DIVA is a semi-structured, structured interview that was developed to improve ADHD assessments for adults. This study is aimed at assessing the validity of the criteria used in DIVA 2.0 and its concomitant validity with Conners Adult ADHD Diagnosis Interview for DSM-IV 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

Symptoms of ADD/ADHD affect all aspects of life from relationships and career advancement to the day-to-day tasks that are part of our lives. It is essential that our ADHD assessment takes a comprehensive perspective, looking at how symptoms impact all aspects of life. Dr. Schilling will begin by assessing your symptoms and medical history. She will then conduct the DIVA 5 assessment. This is a semi-structured, structured interview that evaluates both the core symptoms and the impact of ADD/ADHD on your life.

The DIVA is an interview instrument designed by psychotherapists and psychiatrists to assess symptoms of adult ADHD. It has been demonstrated to have a high sensitivity to sound and specificity. It is extremely effective in identifying people suffering from the disorder. It can help raise awareness and help diagnose adult ADHD in Korea because it is the only validated semistructured diagnostic interview available in the country.

To perform the DIVA the trained clinician - often psychologists or psychiatrists will ask questions about the core symptoms of ADHD such as inattention, hyperactivity, and an impulsive nature. The clinician will also delve into the background of the individual, looking at their childhood experiences and how they could have affected their current behaviours. This is because the signs of ADHD aren't something that just happens to appear in a flash, they manifest through the teenage years, and into adulthood.

The DIVA can efficiently identify those with ADHD because it takes into consideration both the DSM-IV criteria for ADHD during childhood and into adulthood and how the symptoms have affected 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. As a contrast other screening tools, such as the WURS-brief which was compared with the CAADID, showed poor accuracy and negative predictive values.

Diagnosis

To determine ADHD in adults it is essential to evaluate the symptoms and their background. This can be done with an extensive interview about childhood symptoms as well as an assessment of the neurological. It is important to consider the impact that these symptoms have on the person's work and daily life. This can be determined using a structured clinical interview, the DIVA and, in certain cases, obtaining information from family members and friends.

The DIVA interview is a semistructured interview first designed for adults in the Netherlands. It has been re-edited to be used in other countries including Korea. This study looked at the validity of the Korean version of DIVA (DIVA-5) in an adult clinical sample with ADHD.

During the DIVA The clinician will inquire about the presence of ADHD symptoms during 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 also collects variety of sociodemographic information and inquires about any psychiatric co-morbidity.

The MINI-S as well as Version 5.0.0 and the Brief Alcohol Related Neuropsychological Impaired Screening Instrument (BEARNI) and the Frontal Assessment Battery were used to determine if a psychiatric co-morbidity existed. Two psychiatrists who are experienced employed the structured diagnostic interview DIVA-5 in order to establish a diagnosis of ADHD. They assessed symptoms both in adulthood and childhood, and determined the duration of symptoms.

The sensitivity and specificity of DIVA-5 was found to be high for both inattention and hyperactivity/impulsivity symptoms in childhood and adulthood.  how to get an adhd assessment  has good concurrent validity when compared to the WURS scale and has fair validity when compared with three self-report ratings instruments that include the ASRS (self-report rating), FAB (self-report rating), 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 line with the specificity and sensitivity of earlier screening tools like the ASRS and the WURS.

Treatment

If you have an undiagnosed ADHD, it can significantly affect your life. This can be in many areas, from relationships, academic and work progress to the simple task of organising daily living. A diagnosis can help you recognize your strengths and weaknesses, as well as provide solutions to help you manage your symptoms and mechanisms.

A licensed professional (typically a psychiatrist or a psychologist) will conduct a structured conversation with you using the DIVA-5 instrument to assess your current symptoms. This will involve asking standardised questions about your levels of hyperactivity, inattention, and impulsivity. It will also look into 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 allows us to better understand your symptoms and inform your treatment.

The DIVA assessment is an extremely effective way of diagnosing adult ADHD and has high sensitivity and specificity. It has also been shown to be valid as a criterion when compared with self-report scales, such as the Wender Utah Rating Scales (WURS) or the ADHD-Rating Scale. It has good concurrency with these scales and has good validity with Sheehan's Dysfunction Inventory.

In contrast to the more conventional methods for assessing ADHD in adults, the DIVA evaluation focuses on identifying and discussing the symptoms that are present in both childhood and adulthood, thereby increasing the accuracy of the diagnosis and allowing an accurate comparison between sociodemographic traits of the two groups. The DIVA assessment also allows for consideration of the impact of coexisting disorders on symptoms and severity of ADHD symptoms.

If your Psychologist is unable to prescribe medication, you may require an appointment with a psychiatrist or a Paediatrician to discuss further assessment and/or treatment. They will then refer you to an expert Psychologist for more in-depth analysis of your symptoms and to assess for co-occurring diagnoses or differential diagnoses. This includes assessing co-occurring conditions, like anxiety or depression. This will enable your Psychologist the best treatment plan.

Getting Started

A diagnosis of ADHD can alter your life. It offers solutions to persistent issues and opens the way to effective treatment options. However, a reliable assessment requires the expertise of qualified medical experts. The DIVA ADHD assessment, a structured and comprehensive tool, can help to improve the adult ADHD diagnosis accuracy by evaluating symptoms across different stages of life. It also detects patterns of behavior that persist of behavior and distinguishes between ADHD symptoms and those of other conditions that may present similar symptoms in adults, such as depression or anxiety.

In an DIVA ADHD evaluation, a doctor will conduct an organized interview to ask a series questions about 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 on the individual's life and how they function in various settings. This information can be used to determine an accurate diagnosis.

The DIVA assessment has been verified against other diagnostic tools and shows high sensitivity when compared to the WURS-brief, CAA DID and an assessment by a psychiatrist. It also has excellent validity when assessing ADHD symptoms in five areas of daily functioning: work and education as well as relationships with family and home social contact; leisure time and hobbies.

A valid DIVA assessment requires the participation of the individual being evaluated as well as their close family members and friends. This helps build trust and strengthen the therapeutic bond, which will be essential to the success of your evaluation.

A skilled psychologist or psychiatrist who is trained in the use of the DIVA ADHD assessment will be able to provide a detailed report. This report will present the findings of the test and provide a treatment strategy that is based on evidence.

Please contact us to set up an appointment if you think you or someone you love may be suffering from ADHD. Our doctor Kate Schilling is trained in the DIVA ADHD assessment and can perform an evaluation. She can refer you to a specialist who will formulate an appropriate treatment strategy. Be aware that the treatment plan recommended is a combination of medication and psychotherapy.