Comparação de padrões comportamentais referidos por múltiplos informantes e desempenho neuropsicológico na caracterização de sinais de desatenção e hiperatividade em adolescentes

Abstract

Attention Deficit Disorder and Hyperactivity (ADHD) is characterized by a pattern of persistent inattention and/ or hyperactivity that it is more severe than normally observed in individuals with an equivalent level of development. It is a disorder in which the symptoms are varied and may interfere in different degrees according to the environment in which the individual is inserted. The identification of the signs of this disorder must take into consideration an assessment of the neuropsychological functions and of the behavioral indicators, preferably from multiple informants such as parents or guardians, teachers and the adolescent itself. This project aims to identify the main agreements relating to the behaviors of adolescents complaining of symptoms of ADHD observed by multiple informants, and correlate them to their performance on neuropsychological tests. It was used the inventories CBCL/6-18, TRF/6-18 and YSR/11-18 belonging to the Achenbach System of Empirically Based Assessment (ASEBA) and WISC-III, Wisconsin and the Concentrated Attention Test (AC). Twenty adolescents participated in this study aged between 11 and 16 years, divided into two groups, ten with diagnostic (ADHD group) and ten without ADHD (control group). All participants were part of the protocol of neuropsychological, behavioral and clinical assessment to identify signs of inattention and hyperactivity/ impulsivity of the Developmental Disorders Post-Graduation Program at Mackenzie Presbyterian University. The results for the concordance rates in the answers provided by multiple informants in the correlation between CBCL versus TRF, CBCL versus YSR and TRF versus YSR, through values of reference (Q corr), according to the ADM program version 7, were high for both groups. In the comparison of the scales of Internalizing, Externalizing and Total Problems in function of the groups and instruments, as much as for the scales of problems of attention and attention deficit disorder and hyperactivity, it was observed in the ADHD group that the parents reported more problems than the teachers and in the control group the teachers reported significantly greater number of problems. In the comparison of the scales of Sluggish Cognitive Tempo in function of the groups and instruments it was verified that the parents also perceive more alterations in the behavior in different instruments constituents of this scale than the teachers. Regarding to correlations of neuropsychological tests and behavioral indicators of problems of behavior in different instruments, no significant differences were observed. It is therefore concluded the need to compose procedures of assessment of people with the complaint of ADHD with different reporting instruments by multiple informants, besides other procedures such as direct observation or neuropsychological testing for the establishment of a cognitive profile as an aid in the process of assessment.