Do Not Buy Into These "Trends" Concerning Diva ADHD Assessment DIVA ADHD - Improving Adult ADHD Diagnosis

DIVA is a semi-structured interview that was developed to improve ADHD assessments in adults. This study aims at evaluating the criterion valid of DIVA 2.0 and its validity in conjunction 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.

Symptoms

The symptoms of ADD/ADHD affect every aspect of our lives from relationships to advancement in our careers and the everyday tasks we have to perform. It is essential that our ADHD assessment is a holistic perspective, looking at how symptoms impact all aspects of our lives. During your evaluation, Dr. Schilling will begin by collecting information about your symptoms and health background. She will then take the DIVA 5 assessment, a semi-structured interview designed to evaluate the main symptoms of ADD/ADHD, and how those symptoms have impacted your life.

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

To conduct the DIVA A trained professional typically 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 individual's history, looking at their childhood experiences and how those may have affected their current behaviours. The symptoms of ADHD are not sudden. They develop over a period of time, from childhood to teen years and into adulthood.

The DIVA can identify ADHD due to its consideration of both the DSM-IV ADHD criteria in the early years and later in adulthood and how these symptoms affect the individual's daily functioning across five different areas - employment, education and family/partner relationships and leisure/social activities, as well as confidence and self-esteem. In comparison other screening tools, like the WURS-brief which was compared with the CAADID, showed poor sensitivity and negative predictive values.

Diagnosis

To diagnose ADHD in adults it is important that you evaluate the signs and symptoms along with their history. This can be accomplished through conducting a thorough interview about childhood symptoms and an assessment of neurocognitive capacity. It is also essential to consider the impact of the symptoms on the person's work and life. This can be evaluated through a structured medical interview, called the DIVA, and in some instances, getting information from family members and friends.

The DIVA interview is a semistructured interview first developed for adults in the Netherlands. It has been updated to be used by adults in other countries, including Korea. This study examined the criterion applicable to the Korean version (DIVA-5), in the clinical sample of adults suffering from ADHD.

During the DIVA, the clinician asks about the presence of ADHD symptoms in childhood and into adulthood, the age at which the symptoms onset, and the extent of impairment resulting from these symptoms. The doctor will also collect a variety of sociodemographic information and inquire about any psychiatric co-morbidities.

Patients were examined for psychiatric comorbidity using the MINI-S plus version 5.0.0, the Brief Alcohol Related Neuropsychological Impairment Screening Instrument (BEARNI), and the Frontal Assessment Battery (FAB). A clinical diagnosis of ADHD was determined by two experienced psychiatrists who used the DIVA-5 structured diagnostic interview to determine the severity of symptoms in adulthood and childhood and determine the duration of those symptoms.

The sensitivity and specificity of DIVA-5 was found to be high for both inattention and hyperactivity/impulsivity symptoms in childhood and adulthood. This diagnostic tool has good concurrent validity when compared to the WURS scale and has fair validity when compared to 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. gp adhd assessment -5's diagnostic accuracy was found to be similar to the accuracy of a clinical diagnoses given by two psychiatrists. This was in accordance with the specificity and sensitivity of previous screening tools like the ASRS and the WURS.

Treatment

Undiagnosed ADHD can have a major impact on your life. This could be in a variety of areas from your relationships, academic progress and work to the basic tasks of managing your daily life. A diagnosis can help you recognize your strengths and weaknesses, as well as provide treatment options that help you manage your symptoms and mechanisms.

A trained clinician, usually a psychiatrist or psychologist, will conduct an in-depth interview with you about your current symptoms using the DIVA-5 assessment tool. It will ask you standard questions about your levels of hyperactivity, inattention and an impulsiveness. It will also delve into your personal history, including your childhood experiences, in order to obtain a complete picture of your symptoms and the impact they have on your life.

This method is essential to a complete adult ADHD diagnosis. It also allows us to understand the root causes of your symptoms, which will help guide your treatment.

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

The DIVA evaluation, unlike traditional methods for assessing ADHD in adulthood, focuses on identifying symptoms that are present in childhood and adults. This improves the accuracy of diagnosis and allows for a more accurate comparison of sociodemographic traits between the two groups. The DIVA evaluation also gives an opportunity to consider the effect of co-occurring disorders on the presentation of ADHD symptoms.


If your Psychologist is unable to prescribe medication, it could be necessary to make an appointment with a pediatrician or Psychiatrist for a further assessment and/or therapy. They can refer you to an expert Psychologist for more in-depth analysis of your symptoms and to assess for differential or co-occurring diagnoses. This includes assessing any comorbid disorders, such as anxiety or depression. This will help your Psychologist recommend an appropriate treatment plan.

Getting Started

A diagnosis of ADHD can change your life. It offers solutions to long-standing problems and opens the way to effective treatment options. However, a reliable assessment requires the expertise of experienced medical professionals. The DIVA ADHD assessment is a standardized and extensive tool that assists to improve the accuracy of adult ADHD diagnosis by assessing symptoms across different life stages. It also helps identify patterns of behavior that are persistent and aids in distinguishing between ADHD symptoms and other disorders like depression or anxiety.

In an DIVA ADHD evaluation, a doctor will conduct an organized interview to ask a series questions regarding symptoms such as hyperactivity, inattention, and the tendency to be impulsive. The clinician evaluates the intensity, frequency and duration of symptoms to determine the extent to which they affect the individual in different settings. This information can be used to make an accurate diagnosis.

The DIVA test is validated in comparison with other diagnostic tools. It has high sensitivity in comparison to WURS-briefs, CAA-DIDs and psychiatrist's tests. It also has excellent accuracy when measuring ADHD symptoms in five areas of daily functioning: education and work as well as relationships with family and home social interactions; free time and hobbies.

For an authentic DIVA assessment, the person being evaluated as well as their family and friends must be present. This will help to build trust and create a therapeutic bond that is crucial to the success of the assessment.

A qualified psychologist or psychiatrist who has been trained in the use of the DIVA ADHD assessment will be able to provide a detailed report. The report will detail the findings of the test and suggest a treatment plan that is based on the evidence.

Please contact us to schedule an appointment if you think you or someone you love might have ADHD. Our doctor Kate Schilling is trained in the DIVA ADHD assessment and can perform an assessment. She will then make an appointment with specialists to design an effective treatment strategy. Be aware that the recommended treatment approach is a combination of medications and psychotherapy.