Approved May 2017 by the faculty of UMKC in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Nursing PracticeA stimulant holiday is an underutilized and under-researched intervention that could improve
patient outcomes and patient and parent satisfaction to attention deficit hyperactivity disorder
treatment. Given the pervasive nature of this neurodevelopmental disorder on social, familial,
and academic functioning, it is important that treatment remain effective. A retrospective study
with a target of 30 participants was conducted to examine parent or provider initiated stimulant
holidays and the variables associated with each individual case. The variables analyzed were the
duration of the holiday, the medication type, the date of the last dose change, duration of
stimulant treatment, age of the patient, gender of the patient, and any other variables potentially
impacting the stimulant holidays. Stimulant holidays for both provider and parent initiate
holidays were common and holidays lasted between 2 and 14 days. Further research is indicated
to explore patient outcomes of stimulant holiday and quality of life
