Harnessing Community Power: Transforming ADHD Management in Children

Innovative community-driven interventions are being explored as ways to support ADHD care by deploying trained health workers who serve as connectors between families and care systems. These workers may improve engagement and care coordination by offering tailored, culturally competent support, as highlighted in a recent community-driven ADHD initiative. By addressing fragmentation in care, they may help bridge gaps that traditional models often miss; evidence to date is preliminary and varies by setting.

Community health workers are valuable contributors as they heighten family engagement through personalized support mechanisms. CHW-facilitated care coordination not only supports ADHD care but also strengthens engagement and continuity. Families find themselves more connected to the care process, prompting increased trust and continuity in treatment.

The policy landscape is also shifting, with community-based approaches that integrate primary care unveiling new potential within established models such as the patient-centered medical home and school-based health centers. Policies nurturing this integration—such as those expanding family engagement—are further enhancing ADHD care,. These strategies can reduce stigma and encourage proactive involvement from all stakeholders.

Taken together, early program reports and small implementation studies suggest ADHD intervention strategies increasingly benefit from meaningful community participation. As these examples accumulate, clinical practice is more willing to prioritize community resource integration, while acknowledging the need for stronger, comparative evidence.

With insights gained from community-driven successes, the next step is to sustain and thoughtfully expand programs that help bridge longstanding gaps in ADHD care. These efforts should align with guideline-based care, address persistent fragmentation, and proceed with attention to practical needs such as workforce training, sustainable funding, and data-sharing for coordination.

Key takeaways

• Family-facing community health workers and school partnerships can lift engagement and improve care coordination.
• Early programs show modest gains in access and selected symptom measures; more rigorous comparative studies are needed.
• Use recognized models (patient-centered medical home, school-based health centers) to align community efforts with guideline-based care.