Research That Benefits Children and Families

                                                            By Lisa Martin

I have no doubt that research involving children and their families often yields positive results, and it was with this belief that I went in search of current research on Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD).  I am one of those people who believe that the diagnosis of ADHD is too quickly assigned and children are medicated without justification. I wanted to know if research supported my theory.

I found a very informative study that involved minimal risk to the children and families. “The Center for Disease Control’s National Center on Birth Defects and Developmental Disabilities (NCBDDD) funded a collaborative research project with the University of South Carolina and the University of Oklahoma Health Sciences Center, called Project to Learn about ADHD in Youth (PLAY)” (CDC, 2012 p.1).  One of the key findings did in fact support my theory that some children were incorrectly diagnosed and did not need the medication.

The study population consisted of over 10,000 children from a variety of cultures, demographics and ethnic groups in grades K-6. Teachers and parents were interviewed and questioned about signs and symptoms of ADHD. Based on the screening results the children were broken up into two groups and followed for five years through annual interviews, in-depth assessments, quarterly contacts and semi-annual data collection. The CDC (2012) set out to look at ADHD as a public health issue based on three key areas:    

·        Social and economic  burden of ADHD through the lifespan

·        Epidemiologic issues in ADHD

·        Interventions for ADHD

They also offered necessary actions to address these public health needs (p. 2).

Although, I found the research to be very interesting and informative, in the end ADHD is still very much a mystery.  “There is little concrete knowledge of the degree to which interventions can or do improve the outcome of children with ADHD; nor are there consistent and standardized measures of the impact of the disorder” (CDC, 2012, p. 3).  ADHD is definitely a subject in need of much more research. Research that will develop a tool for diagnosis, and look at the cost or burden not only to the individual, but the family, community and society as well.

Center for Disease Control. (2012). ADHD: Current research – Project to learn about ADHD in youth (PLAY). Retrieved from http://www.cdc.gov/features/ADHDAwarenessWeek/

 

 

My Personal Research Journey

                                        By Lisa Martin

I cannot begin to tell you how apprehensive I was about researching a topic for my current course. I chose a topic that was of interest to me, the effects of maternal absence on the social emotional development of young children age five to eight. My sisters and I fell into this age range when our mother died, and though we turned out fine, I have often wonder what the odds are of children having happy, normal lives without a mother present. I was even able to break my topic down into three subtopics. The first subtopic investigates whether or not children whose mothers are not present in the home are more likely to demonstrate behavioral problems in school, specifically a lack of self-control and acting out. The second subtopic raises the question of whether or not children raised in foster care environments have difficulty forming friendships and relationships in general.  The third subtopic looks at whether maternal absence increases resilience.

Unfortunately, I am having difficulty finding current research on maternal death and the effects of young children. There are studies about children in Africa losing parents to HIV/AIDS, but I wanted to focus on motherless children right here in the United States for my research. Furthermore, most of the articles are several years old. I am going to continue to search for articles, and now books that deal with the subject of maternal death in childhood, and I am going to focus my research on the idea of behavioral problems resulting from maternal absence.

The process thus far has been an incredible learning experience, as I know very little about research and struggle with the scientific jargon. By keeping a research chart and learning to put the research phrases in my own words I am developing a better understanding of research in general. Also, in searching for article on my subject I did come across articles that may be of help to my colleagues in their research. I would suggest to everyone that the go to the Walden library and search for relevant articles under the multidisciplinary databases and the SocIndex. If you should come across any links offering information on maternal absence and its effects, please let me know. I am really excited about going on this adventure with all of you, and look forward to following your findings.