Understanding the Lived School Experience of a Young Boy with ODD and Symptoms of Anxiety through Interpretive Phenomenological Analysis: Child, Parent, and Teacher Perspectives
Creators: name: Heudes, Alethea
Publisher: name: Werklund School of Education
Year: 2022
Subjects: subject: Oppositional Defiant Disorder
subject: Anxiety
subject: Interpretive Phenomenology
subject: Education
subject: Educational Psychology
subject: Education--Elementary
subject: Mental Health
subject: Psychology--Developmental

description: Oppositional defiant disorder (ODD) and anxiety disorders are among the most common mental health problems affecting children and adolescents today. Youth struggling with externalizing disorders such as ODD or internalizing disorders such as anxiety are at a higher risk of experiencing multiple challenges during their school years and well into adulthood. Despite the array of concerning outcomes frequently associated with each of these disorders there is minimal research that explores the presentation and implications when these disorders co-occur. Furthermore, a clear understanding of the experiential component of children and adolescents with ODD and anxiety is profoundly lacking. Further complicating the matter, some research has shown that even subthreshold anxiety, in which an individual demonstrates fewer symptoms than required for a diagnosis of anxiety, can lead to impairments comparable to those seen among individuals who meet full diagnostic criteria for an anxiety disorder. The lack of understanding of the experience of co-occurring ODD and sub-threshold anxiety in the educational setting and the implications associated with co-occurring ODD and sub-threshold anxiety are concerning because children and adolescents spend the majority of their time in school. My research aims to make a novel and meaningful contribution to the limited research on ODD and anxiety by exploring the lived school experience of a boy with ODD and subthreshold symptoms of anxiety. The participants in this study included an adolescent boy (Joshua), his mother (Jacquie), his grade 4 teacher (Diane), and his school behaviour support teacher (Marlene). Each participant engaged in two virtual interviews of approximately 60 minutes in length. An interpretive phenomenological analysis methodology was employed to authentically capture Joshua’s lived experience of school through interviews with Joshua, his mother, and two of his former school teachers. Findings illuminated that despite Joshua’s positive attributes, which included being a smart, funny, and curious boy, he displayed a tremendous amount of anger, along with some anxiety. He experienced ineffective exclusionary discipline measures that remained in place until he met a teacher who changed his trajectory. Joshua’s lived experience of school during his elementary years, as described by Joshua, his mother, and two of his former teachers, was tumultuous until two caring educators built a warm, patient, understanding, and supportive relationship with him. Based on findings from this study, possibilities for practice are provided for consideration for school-based teams and school psychologists who may encounter other students like Joshua. Additional areas of research within the greater context of ODD and anxiety in the educational setting are also offered for consideration.