Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder of the Hispanic Female Population - Research Proposal Example

ADD and ADHD in Adult Hispanic Women Table of Contents Summary 3 2. Introduction 4 3. Discussion 4 4. Conclusion 85. Reference 10 Abstract OBJECTIVE: Study of the Hispanic female population affected by ADD and ADHD. METHOD: Several scholarly articles have been reviewed (list incorporated in the references). These articles have been of assistance for the evaluation of the impact cause by this epidemic. Article and journals referred are specifically related to gender, socioeconomic status, geographical location, use of prescribed and illegal substances, prevalence, and racial and ethnic differences when paired co- morbidly with a learning disability. RESULTS: As surveyed by the listed sources, less than five percent of the females and ten percent of the male population in U.S. are verified sufferers of ADD and ADHD. IT has been learnt that less than 25percent of the American population undergo this epidemics without any treatment or diagnosis. CONCLUSIONS: The data of last twenty five years suggest that the percentage of the diagnosed patients with ADD and ADHD has increased significantly, and it is suspected that this rising trend will continue in coming years. Hispanic population within United States is either socially deprived, illiterate or trapped under immigration laws, therefore the proportion of the exact Hispanics within U.S. suffering from ADD and ADHD shall never be precisely estimated. Summary Recent study was conducted by UnitedHealth Group's Evercare organization and the National Alliance for Caregiving, the intent of this research was to analysis the impact of AHAD and ADD among female Hispanics. During research it was identified that more than 36percent of the Hispanic women population looked after an older loved one, this percentage is greater than the average percentage of all U.S which stands at 21 percent. As per Evercare Study of Hispanic Caregiving, "largest comprehensive look at Hispanic caregivers, also revealed that caregiving caused a major change to the working situation of Hispanics, which could have dramatic personal implications as the current fiscal crisis continues to unfold in the United States". The emotional and physical count of caregiving is suspected to influence the local and national economies, which is evident as "more than eight million Hispanics provide care to older loved ones nationwide". During research it was concluded that the availability of "additional resources and tools-in Spanish-are necessary to help them care for their loved ones" (Frances, 1999). As per study, more than 70percent of the female Hispanic caregivers belief that "important that caregiving information be provided in Spanish", they also sought arrangement of training sessions, these sessions shall assists the female population in learning caregiving skills effectively. Introduction Numerous cases of attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) in Hispanic adults' females have been discovered, "there is a paucity of controlled pharmacological trials demonstrating the effectiveness of compounds used in treatment, particularly non-stimulants". Recent research was conducted to evaluate the "anti-ADHD efficacy of bupropion in adult patients with DSM-IV ADHD". In this research "double-blind, placebo-controlled, randomized, parallel, 6-week trial comparing patients receiving sustained-release bupropion to patients receiving placebo" (Frances, 1999) were evaluated. A standardized structured psychiatric instrument was used for the diagnosis of ADHD. The measurement of improvement was conducted through separate assessment of "ADHD, depression, and anxiety symptoms at baseline and on periodic basis". Bupropion has been found as effective drug against ADHDH and ADD. As per the findings of American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, the influence of the bupropion as an active anti-agent for ADHD has not been supported by substantial evidence, therefore the impact of bupropion on ADHD is under investigation, however hopes for improvement is high. It was observed that significant change in ADHD was possible through bupropion treatment, as compared with the effects of placebo. The clinical global impression analysis was used for further analysis, the patients who were treated by receiving bupropion improved significantly, against the patients receiving placebo. This experiment assisted in the verification of the "clinically and statistically significant effect of bupropion in improving ADHD in female adults". It was further concluded that "therapeutic role for bupropion in the armamentarium of agents for ADHD in female adults shall continue, which shall further validate the continuity of pharmacological responsivity of ADHD across the lifespan" (Frances, 1999). Discussion An interesting research was conducted in which the cocaine female abusers were assessed for adult attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD); these Hispanic females were seeking treatment. During assessment which included "SCID for DSM-IV, a SCID-like module for ADHD, and a pattern of drug use questionnaire", the sample included 82% Hispanic females. The average age of the sample was 32 yrs. During assessment it was realised that more than 10percent of the samples qualified for the "DSM-IV criteria for childhood ADHD". During analysis, more than 70percent of the samples with childhood ADHD "had adult ADHD" (Frances, 1999). A review of those adult with ADHD revealed that "disorder and antisocial personality disorder were prevalent" among the samples. During the exercise it was concluded that samples may be classified in terms of extreme-level of cocaine-abusing groups, as in some of the cases the ADHD was undetectable. It was realised that the clinicians shall identify "subpopulations of patients, such as those with ADHD, and target both pharmacologic and non-pharmacologic interventions" for effective treatment of cocaine abusers (Margaret, 2003). During study it was estimated that more than 3 percent of the female Hispanic population shall be affected by ADHD. The identification of this epidemic is possible through monitoring the personal behaviour of the patient, "adults and children with ADHD have significant educational, occupational and interpersonal difficulties". The clinical symptoms have been highlighted and possible disorders have been elaborated, which includes depression, schizophrenia, and social phobia. The detailed study of these disorders has revealed that the personal mental health disorders are not due to the personal weakness or lacking, rather the disorder is due to the bias and unrealistic attitude and approach of the forces of society towards the patient. The social phobia is not considered an individual or personal disorder, rather the disorder is generated by the society, the concentration of which develops significantly in the unfortunate individual. "The disorders include autism and mental retardation, disorders which are typically first evident in childhood" (Thomas, 2001), the source of such disorder has been linked to any of the mysterious incident experienced by the patient during his/her childhood. According to the manual, the personality disorder "'is clinical syndrome which has more long lasting symptoms and encompass the individual's way of interacting with the world; the mental disorder includes paranoid, antisocial, and borderline personality disorders" (House, 2000). The deterioration of the physical condition is considered to be likely cause of the development, continuance, or exacerbation of clinical syndromes, developmental disorders and personality disorders. The childhood based mental disorders can be result of any physical harassment, the topic has been ignored. The born child is every smiling; however it is the occasion which mould the growth and behaviour of the child, and such occasions can traumatized, and we have examples where the child has been abused, molested and strangled which consequently resulted in the mental disorder. Jonathan Kozol in his article titled "Still Separate, Still Unequal" has criticized the educational system practiced in the urban areas of the United States, and has cautioned the Educational Department of the country towards the deterioration of the educational standards of the country, in particular the urban areas. Kozol has warned against the emergence of the great extremes of racial isolation, and has supported this claim through the fact that schools which previously integrated and adored the admission of the students irrespective of their racial background, have segregated. The author has devised the terminology re-segregation which hints at the reversal of the school policy, and their discriminatory attitude towards the people with diversified ethnic and racial background. This is said to have mental disorders and diseases affiliated with ADHD and ADD among Hispanic children and women population. The author has evaluated the causes of the racial segregation, and revealed that 'any serious effort to address racial segregation openly is the refusal of most of the major arbiters of culture in the northern cities to confront or even clearly name an obvious reality that would have been castigated with a passionate determination in another section of the nation fifty years before and which, moreover, the possibility still castigate today in retrospective writings that assign it to a comfortably distant and allegedly concluded era of the past' (Kozol, 2005). The author has criticized the educational department for restricting the 'opportunity for preschool education for no reason but the accident of birth and budgetary choices of the government, while children of the privileged are often given veritable feasts of rich developmental early education', and has favoured the inclusion of Hispanic children in these schools (Kozol, 2005). It is suspected that ignorance towards such practices will cause strong possibility of ADHD and ADD among the children population. The quality of the students and their performance has great demarcation on the basis of the financial capability of the families of the students. The rich parents are able to provide better education to their children at very young stage which is responsible for the development of 'social competence and rudimentary pedagogic skills' (Kozol, 2005). However such skills are lacked by the students who are the residents of deprived and poverty inflicted neighbourhood. The economic spectrum has been responsible for the excessive differences between the students of the respective segments. A recent survey concluded that Hispanics were the "fastest growing minority population in the United States" which signify that the national healthy agenda shall include the requirements relevant to the Hispanic population and health care. According to the survey, "socioeconomic and lifestyle differences among the Hispanic population, including poor dietary habits, a lack of knowledge about infectious and sexually transmitted diseases, as well as increased tobacco use have contributed to such diseases among Hispanic-Americans". It is therefore important that "worldwide intervention and education initiative shall be launched which shall focus on lifestyle changes". It is known that Hispanic population "are traditionally poor and have limited to no access to health care when they come to the United States", this lack of resources have victimized them with non-attended and non-treated diseases including ADD and ADHD. As per research the Hispanic population residing in the United States have been regarded as "particularly vulnerable subset of U.S., with far worse access to the health-care system" (Margaret, 2003). The recently adopted healthy monitoring service for the U.S. population has revealed the proportion of the ADD and ADHD diseases among the Hispanic population, particularly women. A survey related to ADHD was conducted in 2002 which observed that there are some pending constrains towards the appropriate treatment of ADD and ADHD. It was strange to observe that more than 40 percent Hispanic parents reported their ignorance towards prevention and treatment facility for ADHD, and denied their knowledge regarding the treatment of ADHD and ADD. It was concluded that "issues of information, cost, access to services, and cultural and linguistic proficiency in the health system continue to be barriers" (Margaret, 2003). It has been discussed during such surveys that "low rate of ADHD diagnoses among Hispanic children may be influenced by a number of factors, including language barriers and different cultural attitudes about child behaviour" (Margaret, 2003). Conclusion The manual has been of further assistance and support as it has classified the psychiatric diagnoses, the relevant and expected mental health disorders related to the children and adults are discussed, the manual helps in the identification of causes of these disorders, and provide 'statistics in terms of gender, age at onset, and prognosis as well as some research concerning the optimal treatment approaches' (James, 2000). The improved and better understanding of the illness and potential treatments has been elaborated specifically for the adults, and such recommendations have been often referred by the mental health professionals during the diagnosis of their patients. The manual has also assist the third party payer i.e. insurance company and/or employers in better understanding of the requirements and needs of the patients, which is a good practice and will offer relief to the family. The occurrences of the tragic events due the life span has the potential to create mental disorder among the adults, there have been cases where the patients have reflected their vulnerability of the mental dissatisfaction and discontent after the occurrence of the tragic events, which in most of the cases resulted in the irreparable loss of friend or family members. The occurrence of the events including 'death of a loved one, starting a new job, college, unemployment, and marriage' is responsible for the severity of psychosocial stressors have been encouraged through DMS-IV (House, 2000). In my opinion the manual has adopted multi-axial or multidimensional approach to serve the diagnosis purpose of the children, the reason for the application of such varied and comprehensive techniques had been the ineffectiveness of the 'other factors in a person's life' (Michael, 2000) for the creation of the impact on their mental health. The dimensions discussed by the DMS-IV include clinical syndromes. developmental disorders and personality disorders, physical conditions such as brain injury or HIV/AIDS that can result in symptoms of mental illness are included, the severity of the psychosocial stressors have been discussed, and lastly the manual has provided the detailed description of the highest level of functioning (House, 2000) make it comprehensive set of knowledge and assessment. References 1. Jonathan Kozol. Still separate, Still Unequal: America's Educational Apartheid. Harper's Magazine V.311, N.1864. Sept, 2005. 2. James Roy Morrison. The First Interview: Revised for DSM-IV. Guilford Press. 2000, pp. 34-54. 3. House, Alvin E. DSM-IV Diagnosis in the Schools. Guilford Press. 2000. pp. 45-76. 4. Michael B. First, Allen J. Frances, Harold Alan Pincus. DSM-IV: Diagnostics Differentials. 2000. pp. 187-201. 5. Thomas A. Widiger. DSM-IV Sourcebook. American Psychiatric Publication Inc. 2001. pp. 134-154. 6. Margaret Weiss, Candice Murray. Assessment and Management of Attention-Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder in Adult. Canadian Medical Association. 2003. 7. Frances Rudnick Levin, Suzette M. Evans, Herbert D. Kleber. Prevalence of adult attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder among cocaine abusers seeking treatment. New York State Psychiatric Institute. 1999. Read More