Valdovinos Maria G, Trites Melissa, Ausenhus Janelle
Department of Psychology and Neuroscience, College of Arts and Scienced, Drake University, Des Moines, IA 50311, USA.
Heartland Area Education Agency, Johnston, IA 50131, USA.
Brain Sci. 2025 May 17;15(5):513. doi: 10.3390/brainsci15050513.
Psychotropic medications are often prescribed to treat challenging behavior in children with neurodevelopmental disorders. This study examined patterns of psychotropic medication use following outpatient behavioral assessment and treatment in children ages 2-16 years. Medication use at the time of behavioral assessments, six months after the assessment, and a later follow-up time point (mean 25 months following the six-month time point, range 1 month to 41 months) were evaluated via a chart review. Alterations in psychotropic medication use were grouped into eight categories according to the type of medication change experienced. Care providers also completed a social validity survey rating their satisfaction with the assessment and interventions developed for their child. This retrospective study revealed that children in this sample were more likely to experience starting a new medication and increases in the dose of psychotropic medication as time passed. Children were also less likely to remain on the same regimen of psychotropic medication as when they were first seen in the clinic. Additionally, although caregivers generally rated their experiences and outcomes with the behavioral clinic as favorable, additions and increases to psychotropic medication regimens still occurred. These findings are consistent with other reports of continued and increased prescribing of psychotropic medication across time in children with neurodevelopmental disorders, however, the results must be interpreted with caution given the small sample size which limits generalizability of these findings. Additionally, the lack of follow-up with the patients in this sample made it difficult to correlate changes in challenging behavior with psychotropic medication prescribing.
精神药物常常被用于治疗神经发育障碍儿童的挑战性行为。本研究调查了2至16岁儿童在门诊行为评估和治疗后精神药物的使用模式。通过病历审查评估了行为评估时、评估后六个月以及之后的随访时间点（六个月时间点后平均25个月，范围为1个月至41个月）的药物使用情况。根据所经历的药物变化类型，精神药物使用的改变被分为八类。护理人员还完成了一项社会效度调查，对他们对为孩子制定的评估和干预措施的满意度进行评分。这项回顾性研究表明，随着时间的推移，该样本中的儿童更有可能开始使用新药物并增加精神药物的剂量。与首次在诊所就诊时相比，儿童继续使用相同精神药物治疗方案的可能性也较小。此外，尽管护理人员总体上对行为诊所的经历和结果评价良好，但精神药物治疗方案的增加和剂量的增加仍然存在。这些发现与其他关于神经发育障碍儿童随着时间推移精神药物持续和增加处方的报告一致，然而，鉴于样本量小限制了这些发现的普遍性，结果必须谨慎解释。此外，该样本中缺乏对患者的随访，使得难以将挑战性行为的变化与精神药物处方相关联。
