There is very limited understanding of the process by which parents decide to seek professional services for their children with symptoms of behavioral disorder. This pilot study is intended to enhance current understanding of this process by achieving the following objectives. First, factors that have been reported to be significant in determining helpseeking in a primarily white rural sample will be pilot tested in a Latino urban sample. These are: symptom severity, degree of functional impairment, and the burden of care experienced by the child's caregiver as a result of the child's behaviors. Second, we will explore the impact of an additional factor that has not received due attention; the impact of teacher reports (frequency and directiveness) of child behavior on helpseeking. Last, we will explore the effect of the children's gender on parental readiness to seek services. Participants will consist of at least 125 Latina mothers (Cuban, Puerto Rican, and/or Dominican background) who seek evaluations for their children. The target children will be between 4 and 10 years of age and will have symptoms of Attention- Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder and/or Oppositional Defiant Disorder. Mothers will be interviewed on: the factors that prompted their recognition of need for services; their communications with their children's teacher(s); their helpseeking history; their assessment of their children's functional impairment; and their burden of care. Clinicians who evaluate the children will provide symptom profiles and an assessment of functional impairment. Helpseeking will be defined in terms of elapsed times between recognition of the children's behaviors as atypical and contact with the professional sector. Quantitative analysis, such as multiple regression and analysis of variance, and qualitative analysis techniques including categorization of responses for quantitative analysis, case summaries, and cross case tables and matrices will be used to test the predictor variables on helpseeking.
| Arcia, Emily; Castillo, Hector; Fernandez, Maria C (2004) Maternal cognitions about distress and anxiety in young Latino children with disruptive behaviors. Transcult Psychiatry 41:99-119 |
| Arcia, Emily; Fernandez, Maria C; Jaquez, Marisela et al. (2004) Modes of entry into services for young children with disruptive behaviors. Qual Health Res 14:1211-26 |
| Arcia, Emily; Fernandez, Maria C (2003) From awareness to acknowledgement: the development of concern among Latina mothers of children with disruptive behaviors. J Atten Disord 6:163-75 |
| Arcia, Emily; Fernandez, Maria C (2003) Presenting problems and assigned diagnoses among young Latino children with disruptive behaviors. J Atten Disord 6:177-85 |
