Attitudes of parents of children with ADHD towards genetic testing: Data from a Turkish sample

Abstract

This study aimed to examine the opinions of parents with children diagnosed with attention deficit/hyperactivity disorder about genetic tests. A total of 540 parents living in Turkey participated in the study face‐to‐face and online. A questionnaire form prepared by the researchers was used as the data collection instrument. Face‐to‐face data were collected in different institutions in the cities of İzmir, Bursa and Antalya, while online data were collected through Google Forms. The results revealed that parents' views on genetic testing differed according to the sex and age of the child, as well as the parents' level of education and income, and whether the parents had genetic testing during pregnancy (p < 0.05). In the analysis, it was determined that parents' knowledge and awareness levels about genetic tests were generally low, while parents who reported that they would consider having genetic tests had concerns about the storage of their DNA materials, family conflicts that could be caused by genetic tests, and the compatibility of genetic tests with their religious beliefs.