Feasibility of School-Based ADHD Interventions: A Mixed-Methods Study of Perceptions of Adolescents and Adults

Little is known about perceptions surrounding academic interventions for ADHD that determine intervention feasibility.

As part of a longitudinal mixed-methods research project, representative school district samples of 148 adolescents (54.8%), 161 parents (59.4%), 122 teachers (50.0%), 46 health care providers (53.5%), and 92 school health professionals (65.7%) completed a cross-sectional survey. They also answered open-ended questions addressing undesirable intervention effects, which were analyzed using grounded theory methods.

Adolescents expressed significantly lower receptivity toward academic interventions than adult respondents. Stigma emerged as a significant threat to ADHD intervention feasibility, as did perceptions that individualized interventions foster inequality.

Findings suggest that adolescents' viewpoints must be included in intervention development to enhance feasibility and avoid interventions acceptable to adults, but resisted by adolescents.