Negotiating Identity: Young People, ADHD and Medication
Research type
Research Study
Full title
Young people's accounts of self, Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder and stimulant medication
IRAS ID
198974
Contact name
Anna Tharia
Contact email
Duration of Study in the UK
1 years, 0 months, 0 days
Research summary
This research project aims to explore how young people aged 13-17 who take stimulant medication, such as methylphenidate, further to an ADHD diagnosis talk about ADHD, medication and themselves. To do this focus groups and interviews will be conducted with young people at Sunshine House, where South London and Maudsley NHS Trust child and adolescent neurodevelopmental service is based. Questions will be designed to explore the language that young people use to understand, and communicate, their experience of taking stimulant medication as part of an ADHD care pathway and what implications this may have for their sense of self and identity. This age group was selected because of the salience of issues to do with identity and because this is an age when young people are starting to make their own decisions about their care and whether to continue to take medication when previously parents have been the decision makers. The focus groups and interviews will be transcribed and analysed using discourse analysis. The study will take place between 01/04/2016 and 01/04/2017. Each participant will attend either a focus group or an interview of up to one hour.
REC name
London - Queen Square Research Ethics Committee
REC reference
16/LO/0697
Date of REC Opinion
21 Jul 2016
REC opinion
Further Information Favourable Opinion