Abstract

RAMOS-GALARZA, Carlos. Construction of attention deficit / hyperactivity disorder in Ecuadorian written media (2007-2015). Interdisciplinaria [online]. 2018, vol.35, n.2, pp.363-380. ISSN 1668-7027.

Attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) is an alteration of neurodevelopment that affects the behavior and cognition of children, adolescents and adults. ADHD encompasses three clinical features: excessive motor activity, impaired impulse control, and clinically significant alterations in the ability to focus attention to internal and external stimuli. Regarding its research line, there is currently no strong theory to understand it in its totality, so that it is still developing its theoretical foundation, since there are several proposals that explain the development of this disorder from genetic, the influence of diet, social context, family, and other aspects. Another topic still under construction of ADHD is the efficacy of psychological and neurological treatments, alternative therapies and other proposals of treatment that are used for ADHD. In this context, and contributing to the theoretical construction of ADHD, one of the aspects that have not yet been investigated is how this disorder is constructed in the different contexts in which information about its characteristics is handled. One of them is in the media where it say several statements about ADHD that influence the understanding of this disorder by parents, relatives, teachers and the same people who present it. This article proposes an investigation that analyzes the coverage given to ADHD in the media, specifically in the written press of Ecuador between 2007 and 2015. The methodology was based on a mixed research design of two phases. In the first phase, a qualitative procedure of content analysis of the narratives, contained in thirty-nine reports of the Ecuadorian written press about the disorder was used. In the second phase, through a descriptive quantitative research design, we analyzed the frequencies and percentages of each of the reports and their quantitative contribution in the conformation of the categories found in the qualitative phase. In addition we calculated the Kappa reliability coefficient of the measurement performed by means of the procedure inter judges. In the results of qualitative phase, we propose a codified paradigm constituted by eleven categories that construct the knowledge of ADHD in the written press of Ecuador, where they emphasize aspects such as the family, educational and social alterations that generates this disorder in the people that present it, myths about its possible causes, beliefs about the efficacy and unwanted effects of the drug as a means of treatment, risk and protection factors, and other categories that are projected from the contents of the analyzed articles. In the quantitative evaluation the numerical values that constructed the eleven categories of the qualitative phaseare exposed through frequencies and percentages. In the analysis of Cohen's Kappa coefficient, we found that the interevaluation is k =.75, which is interpreted as highly concordant to the measurement performed. Finally, the data reported in the qualitative and quantitative phases are discussed around the theories about ADHD reported in the main diagnostic manuals and with investigations that affirm the information of the reports that informs the real aspects of the disorder, which contribute to a responsible management of the knowledge about the ADHD and contribute in the understanding and help of children, adolescents and adults that have this disorder. Instead, some myths about ADHD are discussed in the reports and contrasted with formal theory and research on the subject, so that myth-based stories are critically received, as they may affect the beliefs of people living around people with ADHD.

Keywords : Attention deficit disorder; Hyperactivity; Impulsiveness; Ecuadorian written press; ADHD.

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