The Development and Content Validation of a Clinical Screening Scale to Identify Attention-Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder Cases Based on the Gender Perspective: An e-Delphi Study.

BACKGROUND: Although many studies analyse gender differences in the clinical expression of Attention-Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) and prevalence studies show that girls with ADHD are underdiagnosed, there are no instruments that are sensitive to the detection of girls with ADHD. OBJECTIVE: The objective of this study is to develop a self-report early detection instrument for boys and girls with ADHD aged 7 to 16, which includes the gender perspective and is sensitive to the detection of girls with ADHD. METHODS: The scale was developed and the items that comprised it were created from the thematic analysis of ADHD and its evaluation in children based on the diagnostic criteria of the DSM-5-TR. A modified e-Delphi method involving a three-round web survey was used to establish a consensus on the content of the scale. Ten experts were recruited to form a professional panel. The panel members were asked to assess the differential symptomatology of ADHD in boys and girls, the dimensions to be evaluated, and the importance of scale items to evaluate the content. RESULTS: A consensus was reached regarding 13 total items distributed in three dimensions: inattention; hyperactivity/impulsivity; and, a third dimension, internalisation, which includes symptoms most present in the expression of ADHD in girls. CONCLUSIONS: To the best of our knowledge, the development of this scale using the Delphi method is the first specific scale used for identifying ADHD that also addresses the gender perspective and the differential symptomatology between boys and girls. However, we must proceed to the analysis of psychometric properties, as the scale requires an exhaustive study of its reliability and validity. We can anticipate that this scale will provide relevant and reliable information that can be used for the identification of ADHD in both boys and girls.

The relationship between jumping to conclusions and social cognition in first-episode psychosis.

Jumping to conclusions (JTC) and impaired social cognition (SC) affect the decoding, processing, and use of social information by people with psychosis. However, the relationship between them had not been deeply explored within psychosis in general, and in first-episode psychosis (FEP) in particular. Our aim was to study the relationship between JTC and SC in a sample with FEP. We conducted a cross-sectional study with 121 patients with FEP, with measures to assess JTC (easy, hard, and salient probability tasks) and SC (emotional recognition, attributional style, and theory of mind). We performed Student's t-test and logistic regression in order to analyse these associations.We found a statistically significant and consistent relationship of small-moderate effect size between JTC (all three tasks) and impaired emotional recognition. Also, our results suggest a relationship between JTC and internal attributions for negative events. Relationships between JTC and theory of mind were not found. These results highlight the importance of psychological treatments oriented to work on a hasty reasoning style and on improving processing of social information linked to emotional recognition and single-cause attributions.