Evidence-based assessment of ADHD diagnosis in children and adolescents

Abstract

This study illustrates the accuracy and efficiency of using an evidence-based assessment (EBA) strategy for diagnosis of attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) by integrating the scale scores obtained on BASC-3 teacher and parent rating scales. The examined process used empirical diagnostic likelihood ratios (DLRs) derived from a sample of children with ADHD (N = 339) matched on demographic characteristics from the normative sample. The results show that behavioral scales of executive functioning and functional communication provided incremental utility in ADHD diagnosis. With a revised probability of .80 or higher as the diagnostic criterion, teachers, and parents positively diagnosed 70% and 94% of the ADHD cases respectively. The EBA approach was efficient, with four scales on average used to reach the proposed posterior probability for final diagnosis. Finally, teachers and parents demonstrated a high agreement with respect to the diagnosis results and scales used for the diagnosis.

Keywords: ADHD; BASC-3; clinical diagnosis; evidence-based assessment; incremental utility.