ADHS im Klassenzimmer: Definition und Untersuchung relevanter Erklärungsvariablen der Nutzungsintention möglicher Klassenmanagementstrategien zur Unterstützung von Schüler:innen mit Aufmerksamkeitsdefizit-/Hyperaktivitätsstörung

Attention deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), which counts inattentiveness, hyperactivity and impulsiveness to its core symptoms, statistically affects one to two students per class of 30. As research shows that ADHD is a disorder that often persists into adulthood and that leads to many problems in the school context, teachers of all grades are asked to deal with the symptoms of ADHD. Classroom management strategies (CMS) can significantly reduce the symptoms of ADHD, thus relieve the burden on teachers, and provide equal opportunities for the students concerned. However, the effective CMS are often not applied or used ineffectively. This cumulus therefore focuses on reasons behind this gap between science and practice. On top, it provides information on the factors possibly promoting the use of effective strategies, the inherent promotional barriers and sources of ineffective strategy use. The first study is a bibliometric review investigating the questions whether the research areas of psychology/psychiatry and educational sciences disregard relevant research findings of the other into their own discourse, possibly leading to a science-practitioner gap. Using science mapping, only little communication between the two areas could be revealed, with similar topics being treated in both areas. However, the field of psychology/psychiatry does not seem to consider teachers’ point of views. Factors that can increase the use of effective strategies and possible barriers were not analyzed in the current literature focusing on CMS. The second study relates to previous research on barriers and supporting factors of using CMS. Research so far focused on ensuring teachers’ knowledge about ADHD and recorded teachers’ attitudes. The methods used so far, however, lacked theoretical foundation and content validity. Therefore, the ADHD School Expectation Questionnaire (ASE) was developed based on the theoretical foundation and checked for factor structure and reliability. With the help of three subscales, the ASE records teachers’ ADHD-related knowledge, attitudes towards students with ADHD and towards effective and ineffective CMS as well as the intention to use them. Criteria of quality are satisfactory, and the results indicate low knowledge and negative attitudes among in- and pre-service teachers. The third study uses the ASE to survey pre-service teachers about their attitudes and intentional use of CMS. Factors influencing intention were extracted, including direct experiences, social influences and individual differences. Attitudes towards CMS marks the greatest factor in explaining intention, followed by individual differences, particularly knowledge and psychopathological stress. The fourth study replicates the results of the third study with practicing teachers. Again, attitude towards CMS explains the greatest part of the intention to use them. Individual differences, such as knowledge of ADHD and psychopathological stress are also relevant. Enhancing the model to include more direct experience and individual differences reveals an influence of teachers’ education on the intended use of CMS and a gender difference. In the fifth study, the attitudes of pre- and in-service teachers and psychotherapists in training are divided into latent profile classes, exposing three different attitude profiles with either negative, moderate or extreme attitudes. Participants in the moderate attitude profile class show a rather distant attitude towards students with ADHD and show no special use of the CMS. The class indicating the extreme attitudes did not show the best attitudes towards students with ADHD, but the best behavioral intention towards CMS.