The Effect of Child Characteristics on Teachers' Acceptability o f Classroom-Based Behavioral Strategies and Psychostimulant Medication for the Treatment of ADHD

Abstract

Studied the effect of student characteristics on teachers' ratings of treatment acceptability for attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). Participants (N = 159) included experienced elementary school teachers who read 1 of 6 vignettes describing a child with symptoms representative of ADHD. Vignettes varied by sex and symptom-subtype classification. However, the number and specific type of symptoms described in the vignettes were consistent across all conditions. Next, teachers read a description of a daily report card (DRC), response cost technique, classroom lottery, and medication and rated their levels of agreement to the items of the Behavioral Intervention Rating Scale (BIRS). Teachers preferred the DRC to all other forms of treatment. However, there was a significant interaction between the type of treatment and sex of the student on the 3 factors (Treatment Acceptability, Treatment Effectiveness, and Timeliness) of the BIRS.