Establishing the Research Priorities of ADHD Professionals: An International Delphi Study

Abstract

Objectives: To determine ADHD research priorities from the perspective of ADHD professionals internationally.; Method: A two-stage modified Delphi design was used. In Stage 1 (qualitative), participants listed research questions relating to ADHD that they perceived to be most important ( N = 132). In Stage 2 (quantitative), participants were then asked to rate each research question that was deemed appropriate (able to be researched and not already addressed by research) in terms of perceived importance ( N = 180).; Results: Stage 1 generated 382 research questions with 10 broad areas identified for example, co-occurring conditions and treatment, etc. The top 20 most important questions related to ADHD in women/girls, long-term medication use, non-pharmacological interventions, ADHD measurement/rating scales, and efficacy of emotional regulation interventions.; Conclusion: These results can inform an ADHD research agenda which represents the views of the individuals from major ADHD professional groups internationally. Parallel work is needed focusing on research priorities from the perspective of ADHD consumers.; Competing Interests: Declaration of Conflicting InterestsThe author(s) declared the following potential conflicts of interest with respect to the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article: Outside the submitted work, A/Prof Sciberras receives royalties for her published book “Sleep and ADHD: An evidence-based guide to assessment and treatment,” received honoraria for presentations in 2018 and 2019 at the National Education Summit, Australia, and was an invited speaker at the seventh World Congress on ADHD 2019 with partial travel costs covered. Prof Bellgrove reports honoraria for presentations over the last three years, outside the submitted work. Prof Coghill reports grants and personal fees from Shire/Takeda and personal fees each from Medice, Novartis, Oxford University Press, and Servier, outside the submitted work. In the past year, Prof. Faraone reports income, potential income, travel expenses continuing education support and/or research support from Aardvark, Aardwolf, AIMH, Tris, Otsuka, Ironshore, Johnson & Johnson/Kenvue, ADHDOnline, KemPharm/Corium, Akili, Supernus, Atentiv, Noven, Sky Therapeutics, Axsome, and Genomind. With his institution, he has US patent US20130217707 A1 for the use of sodium-hydrogen exchange inhibitors in the treatment of ADHD. He also receives royalties from books published by Guilford Press: Straight Talk about Your Child’s Mental Health, Oxford University Press: Schizophrenia: The Facts and Elsevier: ADHD: Non-Pharmacologic Interventions. He is Program Director of www.ADHDEvidence.org and www.ADHDinAdults.com. Prof. Faraone’s research and education programs are supported by the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation program under grant agreement 965381; NIH/NIMH grants U01AR076092-01A1, R0MH116037, 5R01AG064955-02, 1R21MH126494-01, 1R01NS128535-01, R01MH131685-01, 1R01MH130899-01A1, Corium Pharmaceuticals, Tris Pharmaceuticals, and Supernus Pharmaceutical Company. Over the past three years, Professor Manor has received financial compensation as a consultant, advisory board member, and lecturer from Madison Ltd. (the distributor of the study drug, Lisdexamfetamine (Vyvanse), in Israel) and Teva Israel (the manufacturer and distributor in Israel of the study drug Mixed Amphetamine Salts, and Mixed Amphetamine Salts—Extended Release. Additionally, she has served as a lecturer for Takeda Ltd. Further, Dr. Manor is a consultant for a startup company, Peri, which either develops or evaluates medications for treating ADHD. She has also served as a P.I. (part of her position in Geha MHC) in two startups: Nuance Ltd. and Mindtension Ltd. Prof Banaschewski TB served in an advisory or consultancy role for eye level, Infectopharm, Medice, Neurim Pharmaceuticals, Oberberg GmbH, and Takeda. He received conference support or speaker’s fee by Janssen-Cilag, Medice, and Takeda. He received royalities from Hogrefe, Kohlhammer, CIP edien, Oxford University Press; the present work is unrelated to these relationships. Dr Stephens, Miss Summerton, Dr Bisset, Prof Middeldorp, Dr Payne, and A/Prof Silk have no financial relationships or conflicts of interest relevant to this article to disclose.