Objective: To explore information resources and individual perceptions of causes and modifiers of Tourette Syndrome (TS) and tic disorders.

Background: The development of tics is multifactorial, arising from a complex interplay of genetic factors, underlying neurochemical changes in dopamine neurotransmission, and psychosocial factors. Unfortunately, false beliefs about TS are still prevalent and potentially detrimental to individuals with tics.  Our aim was to characterize perceptions of TS among adolescents.

Method: Adolescents with tic disorders ages 11-21 (N =44) completed a 5-point Likert scale survey evaluating beliefs about TS. Respondents were asked to rate how strongly they agreed with 32 statements about the causes and treatments of TS. These statements represented larger categories including psychological, neurological, environmental, complimentary medicine, or social factors. Descriptive statistics (mean ± standard deviation) and one-way analysis of variance (ANOVA) was used to analyze data.

Results: Respondents selected the resources they most commonly used to gain information about tics and rated how valuable each resource was on a scale of 1 to 5, with 5 being extremely important. Percentage of respondents who selected a particular resource and the average ranking of importance are as follows:  physician (98%, 4.0), psychologist (90%, 3.4), social media (81%, 2.1), parents (77%, 2.7), and national societies such as TAA (77%, 2.6). The mean scores for each category of perceived modifiers of tics were: psychological treatments (3.7 ± 0.196), neurological causes (3.7 ± 0.263), environmental causes (1.7 ± 0.342), use of complementary medicine (2.5 ± 0.12), and social contributions (1.9 ± -.433). Comparison between groups revealed that neurological and psychological causes and treatments of TS were rated significantly higher than other potential contributing factors (f ratio = 53.85, p <<< 0.001). Our poster will elaborate specific items within these categories.

Conclusion: This pilot data suggests that the average perception of TS in adolescents with tics is that external modifiers were less relevant than neurological and psychological variables. Further work is needed to determine if there is any association with resources used to gain information about tics and what those beliefs are. This abstract adds data from 24 additional participants to the version accepted for presentation at the American Academy of Neurology on April 7, 2022.

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MDS Abstracts - https://www.mdsabstracts.org/abstract/beliefs-about-tourette-syndrome-in-adolescent-patients-with-tics/