PhD defense by Helle Enggaard

The PhD defense will take place

Wednesday the 30 September, 2020
Time: 1 pm (CEST)

Because of COVID-19, the PhD defense will be held online.
For registration please write an e-mail to: inst.klinisk.phd@dcm.aau.dk

Supervisors

Marlene Briciet Lauritsen, Clinical professor
Aalborg University Hospital, Psychiatry, Denmark
Aalborg University, Denmark

Rikke Jørgensen, PhD
Aalborg University Hospital, Psychiatry, Denmark

Britt Laugesen, Post doc
Aalborg University, Denmark
Aalborg University Hospital, Denmark         

Vibeke Zoffmann, Professor
Rigshospitalet, Denmark
University of Copenhagen, Denmark

Assessment Committee

Timothy Guetterman, Associate Professor
University of Michigan, USA

Øyfrid Larsen Moen, Associate Professor
Norwegian University of Science and Technology, Norway

Kirsten Schultz Petersen, Associate Professor (chair)
Aalborg University, Denmark

About the PhD thesis

Attention deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) in adolescents is a common mental disorder and associated with impaired academic, social, emotional, and family functioning. Furthermore, adolescents with ADHD are at risk of suffering from a co-existing medical disorder (MD).

Adolescents strive for independence from their parents, and they make more independent decisions about their lives, which is likely to influence their disease-management choices. It is therefore important to support adolescents in order to empower them in their management of co-existing ADHD and MD.

Guided Self-Determination (GSD) is an empowerment-based intervention that supports patients’ disease self-management by facilitating patient involvement and patient-centered care. The GSD intervention may be suitable for supporting adolescents’ self-management of co-existing ADHD and MD.

The PhD thesis is based on three studies that aimed to:

Explore adolescents’ perceptions of living with co-existing ADHD and MD (Study 1). The findings of Study 1 formed the basis for the adaptation of the GSD intervention to adolescents with co-existing ADHD and MD (GSD-ADHD-MD)

Evaluate the impact of the GSD-ADHD-MD intervention on support from nurses, support from parents, and the adolescents’ self-management of co-existing ADHD and MD (Study 2)

Evaluate feasibility and acceptability of the GSD-ADHD-MD intervention received by adolescents with co-existing ADHD and MD (Study 3)

The findings of the thesis suggest that the GSD-ADHD-MD intervention has the potential to improve adolescents’ management of co-existing ADHD and MD by helping them become aware of the dual task and by supporting their active involvement in their outpatient visits. However, some elements of the intervention were more feasible and acceptable than others; for this reason, the intervention needs further adjustments.