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WHAAM Newsletter Issue 1 - November 2014

Editorial

Welcome to the WHAAM project newsletter!

We will do our best to inform you about the progress of our project ac­tivities throughout the duration of the project. The WHAAM project has been funded with support from the European Commission in the context of the Lifelong Learning Programme Key Activity 3 Multilateral Projects.

The focus of EU project WHAAM (Web Health Application for ADHD Monitoring) is to set a new culture in the ADHD intervention. The rationale is that technology can promote a better networking among people involved in the care of an ADHD child: parents, teachers and health professionals (HPs). During the project, different outcomes will be released, including a theoretical Framework (CDFw), an application to support multimodal interventions for ADHD subjects, a training course for parents, teachers and HPs to familiarize them with the cognitive-behavioural techniques and the use of the Web App created. Finally, a training module will be designed, aimed at bringing the theme of ADHD and the use of Web App into University curricula.

In this first public communication, you can access:

Keep in touch with the EU project WHAAM!

Antonella Chifari
Project coordinator, CNR-ITD, Italy

 

ADHD at a glance

ADHD stands for Attention-Deficit/ Hyperactivity Disorder and is defined as a psychiatric disorder. It is a lifelong condition characterized by a developmentally inappropriate, pervasive (across different situations such as home and school) and persistent pattern of severe inattention, hyperactivity, and/or impulsivity. It is four times more frequent in boys than in girls and affects up to 5% of the school-going population. Scientists and medical experts do not know precisely what causes ADHD. Scientific evidence suggests that the disorder is genetically transmitted (often runs in families) and is caused by a chemical imbalance or deficiency in certain neurotransmitters (chemicals that regulate the efficiency with which the brain controls behaviour). The evaluation of a patient with ADHD is a long and complex process that consists of several phases: clinical interviews, medical examination, neuropsychological testing and behavioral assessment through questionnaires. The realisation of therapeutic protocols for the treatment of ADHD aims to reduce the seriousness of the symptoms and facilitates a good integration of the child in his own environment. A multimodal treatment of ADHD should involve all people that are part of the child’s life (parents, teachers, peers) and encourage the adaptation of an ADHD subject within his own environment. An effective multimodal approach may include a) behavior management training, b) support for families, c) special educational support at school, d) medication, when appropriate.

 

WHAAM application soon to be released

Many methods (direct, analogue and indirect) of functional assessment can be applied to evaluate challenging behaviors, such as ABC charts. In the literature there are few computerized monitoring systems, which are based on pre-existing classical forms for the assessment of ADHD. These programs are used to organize and save the interviews from the parents, the child and the teacher. This also enables the clinician to extract important information allowing him to help the children.

The WHAAM The is aimed at supporting effective behavioral interventions in ADHD children in a social dimension creating a child’s social network where every element of the school-family system has a key role in the identification and manipulation of children’s problematic behaviours. This is where the observer collects accurate data on the antecedent (A), the behavior (B) and consequences (C) and also systematic observation data to plan specific and tempestive interventions.Taking into account the central role of the observation, WHAAM partners have refined the domains of the WHAAM private application in the following way:

  • Features to record patient personal data, medical history for ADHD (i.e. birth history, general health history, behavior, school performance, family history), previous treatments or medications
  • Features to perform systematic direct observation at home/school
  • Features to identify the function of the observed behavior at home/school
  • Features to plan behavioral interventions at home/school
  • Features to summarize the gathered data

A mobile app (iOS & Android) will accompany the application!

 

The Context Driven Framework (CDFw)

The CDFw, a report produced by the WHAAM project, collects the most recent research outcomes in ADHD intervention methodologies and identifies how ICTs can support ADHD multimodal interventions at the parent, teacher, and health professional level. Download (FREE) the eBook at http://www.whaamproject.eu/framework.

 

Recent Events

Last project meeting 12-13 June 2014, Thessaloniki, Greece

The 3rd General Assembly of WHAAM partners took place in Thessaloniki, Greece, on 12-13 June 2014. The meeting, attended by the project officer from the EACEA/Brussels, was hosted by AUTH, the Medical Education Informatics group of the Medical School.

This meeting had 3 main goals:

  • To bring together scientists, parents and professionals in a stakeholders’ meeting to exchange experiences, disseminate the project goals and objectives and benefit from scientific collaboration and the end-user involvement in the WHAAM project implementation
  • To fine-tune technical developments and operational design of the web application for ADHD monitoring and relevant mobile app to be released in September 2014
  • To manage administrative project processes, analyze progress report assessment outcomes and plan the following steps.

 

WHAAM demo at ADHD Hellas Conference, October 2014

The Pan-Hellenic Association of individuals with Attention Deficit/Hyperkinetic Disorder (ADHD) has organized a conference on 18 & 19 October 2014 in Athens, Greece. During the conference the WHAAM web & mobile application were demonstrated to conference participants in a dedicated conference stand, and a lectures were given to participants by WHAAM partners.

 

Conference on Meta-cognitive Therapy, October 2014

The EU project WHAAM was presented during the conference on Meta-cognitive Therapy organized by the Istituto Tolman in Palermo on October, 17-19 2014, with keynote speaker professor Adrian Wells (Professor of Clinical & Experimental Psychopathology, University of Manchester).

Visit: http://www.istitutotolman.net/web/blog/convegno-metacognizione-e-psicoterapia

 

IMCL 2014

The 2014 International Conference on Interactive Mobile Communication Technologies and Learning is taking place in Thessaloniki, on 13-14 November. Visit: http://www.imcl-conference.org/imcl2014

The WHAAM mobile application for ADHD monitoring will be presented in the Special Track on Mobile Health Care and Training (MHCT). Visit: http://medphys.med.auth.gr/mei/mobilehealth

 

Forthcoming project events

WHAAM partners have planned their next general assembly to take place in November 6-7, 2014 in Porto, hosted by UAEI, specifically the School of Education of the Polytechnic Institute of Porto (ESEPP). In this meeting two products will be presented and discussed: (1) a training course developed for parents and teachers of students with ADHD – this training course aims to provide participants with behaviour modification techniques based on social learning and the use of the web application; (2) an eLearning course on ICT-based interventions for students with ADHD to addressed with higher education students enrolled in psychological, medical, pedagogical faculties.

 

About WHAAM

The WHAAM project has been funded with support from the European Commission in the context of the Lifelong Learning Programme Key Activity 3 Multilateral Projects.

The WHAAM (Web Health Application for ADHD Monitoring) project is aimed at diffusing a new culture in the ADHD intervention. The rationale is that technology can promote a better networking among people involved in the care of an ADHD child: parents, teachers and health professionals (HPs). During the project, different outcomes will be released, including a theoretical Framework (CDFw), an application to support multimodal interventions for ADHD subjects, a training course for parents, teachers and HPs to familiarize them with the cognitive-behavioural techniques and the use of the Web App created. Finally, a training module will be designed, aimed at bringing the theme of ADHD and the use of Web App into University curricula.

 

WHAAM partners


This project has been funded with support from the European Commission. This publication reflects the views only of the author, and the Commission cannot be held responsible for any use which may be made of the information contained therein.

© WHAAM 2014