Agreement rates between parents' and teachers' reports on ADHD symptomatology: Findings from a Brazilian clinical sample

Abstract

Background: ADHD diagnosis in children and adolescents according to DSM-IV criteria demands symptoms to be present in at least two different settings (mainly school and home). Despite the importance in obtaining parents' and teachers' reports, this issue is seldom investigated in Brazil. Objective: We set to evaluate agreement rates between parents' and teachers' reports from a Brazilian clinical sample of children and adolescents with ADHD. Methods: The sample comprised 44 children and adolescents with age range between 6 and 16 years old (boys: 40; girls: 4) with a clinical diagnosis of ADHD. We compared parents' and teachers' responses in SNAP-IV questionnaire in order to calculate agreement rates among different information sources on ADHD symptomatology. Results: Agreement for ADHD diagnosis occurred in nearly half of the sample, with parents' reporting more ADHD symptomatology than teachers. Conclusion: Our findings might suggest that recognition of ADHD symptomatology is less clear-cut among school teachers in Brazil, indicating that some educational sessions about this condition should be conducted in schools, taking into consideration the importance of education professionals' reports to diagnose ADHD.