Findings from a study entitled, ‘The construction and validation of child, adolescent and parental decision aids for considering methylphenidate drug holidays in ADHD’ was recently published in the journal Pharmacy. The following is a summary of the study by Professor Donyai.

“What is the study about: Some children take medicines for ADHD. It is important to take a short break from these during the year. But families find it difficult to decide on this. There is nothing to tell families what is good and what is bad about medicine breaks. We wrote these down. We spoke with doctors and parents. They helped us correct the guides. We made the guides good for children, teenagers and families. Three guides are now available to help children and families decide about medicine breaks.

Why is it important: Children and teenagers who have ADHD can get bad effects from their medicines. It is important to take a break from ADHD medicines. This is what the government wants. Taking a break from medicines helps families see if they still need to give strong medicines. Not many families know about medicine breaks or want to try them. The guides we made will help doctors talk to families about medicine breaks. Families can then learn what is good and what is bad about medicine breaks. This will help them decide if they want to try medicine breaks in ADHD.”

Ibrahaim, K. Randolph, G. Doran, O. and Donyai, P. The construction and validation of child, adolescent and parental decision aids for considering methylphenidate drug holidays in ADHD. Pharmacy 2018(4),122.  https://doi.org/10.3390/pharmacy6040122).