Transtorno do déficit de atenção e hiperatividade: conhecimento de professores e estudantes de educação física

Abstract

Many areas of health and education have presented gaps in the knowledge about the diagnosis, treatment and daily life of children with Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD). The training and qualification of professionals who deal daily with these children, as teachers of Physical Education at school, need to be understood and revised in order to improve them and improve the service to this population. The present study analyzed the knowledge about ADHD of Physical Education teachers (n=19) and undergraduate students in Physical Education (n=20) from Fortaleza/CE. All participants respond to a questionnaire about conceptual knowledge and characteristics of children with ADHD. The results showed that the group of students presented better performance in the responses to the statements than the group of teachers, though both groups presenting higher scores of correct answers than errors in the questionnaire. Many participants considered ADHD as a legitimate educational problem, but few teachers and undergraduate students are concerned to include this subject in their reading, which may have led to a considerable number of errors in the issues about prevalence, heredity, and treatment. Although the diagnosis of ADHD is not part of the function of teachers, it is understood that appropriating of the knowledge about this disorder will be useful for an initial identification of this condition in students and will constitute positive aspects for the teaching performance.