Faculty & Staff

Back to News & Events

USF Receives Funding from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to Study the Impact of Tic Disorders in Youth

Previous Findings

  • Youth with TS were significantly more withdrawn, more aggressive, and less popular than their classmates.
  • A majority of participants had received mental health services to assist them in coping with TS and related problems, such as stigma, anxiety and depression.
  • An increase in family relationship problems occurs when a child has TS, including more marital difficulties, substance abuse in parents, family conflict, poorer quality of parent-child interactions, and higher levels of parenting frustration than in families without a child who has TS.

CFS's Dr. Norín Dollard, along with faculty from the departments of Pediatrics and Psychiatry in USF Health have secured funding through the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to study the impact of Tourette's Syndrome (TS) and tic disorders among Florida’s children and youth. The study aims to gain a better understanding of the public health burden and the specific challenges faced by youth with tic disorders and their families. Faculty will review and gather a variety of information to assess disparities in knowledge, diagnosis and treatment of tic disorders, health care needs and service use among these youth, and the economic impact of tic disorders. Approximately $200,000 has been allocated for year one of the three-year project.Initially, faculty will examine Medicaid data of youth identified with tics and compare to those with ADHD and to those without neuropsychiatric disorders.

In addition, faculty and staff from the Policy and Research Data Center (PSRDC), housed within the USF College of Behavioral and Community Sciences, will conduct a mail survey of the caregivers of youth with these disorders to identify ways to improve interventions in the future. The PSRDC is highly regarded as a reliable source of information for Florida policymakers and a national center of innovative research using administrative datasets. It has access to data on statewide Medicaid claims, mental health service claims funded by state and general revenue, adult corrections, juvenile justice, child welfare, and examinations under Florida’s civil commitment law (over a million reports generated since 1997).

Faculty will also closely examine the lived experiences and perspectives of youth in their day-to-day challenges of adjusting to a visibly apparent neuropsychiatric illness. Youth coping well with their tics will be compared to those with a more difficult adjustment. From this collected information, a survey will be developed to test and expand on the needs and perspectives of additional youth identified as having tics.

Participants will be recruited through the normal patient flow into the University of South Florida Rothman Center for Pediatric Neuropsychiatry at All Children’s Hospital, St Peterburg and the USF Health Silver Child Development Center, Tampa.

“Tourette’s Syndrome is associated with a wide range of behavioral and psychological difficulties, including highly disruptive behavior, interpersonal difficulties, and anxiety and mood disturbances,” said Dr. Norín Dollard. “Information attained from this study will be of great importance to families, health care providers, and school professionals who are in unique positions to assess, support, and intervene on behalf of those with tic disorders. It is our hope that the knowledge gained will guide the development of interventions and community services.”

Dr. Dollard will be working with Drs. Tanya Murphy (Principal Investigator) and Eric Storch, faculty from the USF Health Department of Pediatrics, and Dr. Douglas Shytle from the USF Health Silver Child Development Center. The USF Health research team has previously addressed many areas of research in children and adolescents with tic disorders.For additional information on this study or previous findings, please contact Dr. Dollard at dollard@fmhi.usf.edu or 813-974-3761.

The Department of Child and Family Studies (CFS) is a department of the USF College of Behavioral & Community Sciences and is committed to improving the well-being of individuals, children, and families within communities across the country through promoting respect, inclusion, development, achievement, mental health, and an optimum quality of life.

Share this page