The Conners Adult ADHD Rating Scales 2nd Edition (CAARS™ 2) is a product of nine years of collaboration between several individuals, which has made working on its development an enriching and rewarding experience. MHS is so proud and extremely grateful to work with both Dr. Drew Erhardt and Dr. Elizabeth Sparrow. Dr. Erhardt and Dr. Sparrow dedicated years of work towards conceptualizing, developing, and finalizing the CAARS 2. MHS also feels honored to have had the opportunity to work with Dr. C. Keith Conners. Dr. Conners passed away during the development phase of the CAARS 2; however, we were fortunate to have Dr. Conners contribute to the conceptualization of the revision and we are pleased that the final product reflects his vision.

MHS thanks our research collaborators, Dr. Allyson Harrison and Dr. Julie Suhr. Their illuminating and innovative work related to the validity of ADHD assessments has informed and supported the development of the CAARS 2 validity scales.

MHS recruited several experts to provide evaluative feedback on the development of the Conners Adult ADHD Rating Scales 2nd Edition Short (CAARS™ 2–Short) forms. This panel represented experts in the field of ADHD.

• Lily Hechtman, M.D., Psychiatrist, Professor of Psychiatry and Pediatrics, Director of Research (Division of Child Psychiatry), and Director of ADHD Psychiatry Services (Child Psychiatry Department) at McGill University
  
  
• J. Russell Ramsay, Ph.D., Psychologist, Co-Founder and Co-Director (Adult ADHD Treatment and Research Program), and Associate Professor of Clinical Psychology in Psychiatry at the University of Pennsylvania
  
  
• Maggie Toplak, Ph.D., Clinical Psychologist and Associate Professor of Psychology at York University
  
  
• Margaret Weiss, M.D., Ph.D., Director of Clinical Research, Department of Child Psychiatry, Cambridge Health Alliance
  
  
• Susan J. Young, DClinPsy, Ph.D., Registered Clinical and Forensic Psychologist, Director at Psychology Services Limited
  
  

MHS is also grateful to Dr. Richard Hicks and Dr. Virginia Hart whose generous input and considerable expertise contributed greatly to the inclusion of a forensic case study, enabling us to represent an important context for use of the CAARS 2 beyond a typical clinic setting.

Thank you to Yona Rzepa, an adult ESL teacher with over 30 years of experience teaching English to adult students from various cultures across the world. Mrs. Rzepa reviewed the items for possible language issues, including idioms that may not translate or may have a different meaning if read in English by someone from a different culture. An additional review, focused on the inclusivity and common interpretability of the scale’s language across cultures, was provided by Jackelin L. Veloz-Jefferson (Ed.S., L.P.A., N.C.S.P., H.S.P.-P., Raleigh Psychological Associates), a bilingual, bicultural clinician with extensive experience working with ADHD in adults.

MHS would also like to thank cApStAN for their work in creating the Spanish (North America) and French (Canada) translations of the CAARS 2. cApStAn worked diligently to produce sound cultural translations of the test items and instructions.

Heartfelt thanks are also extended to all the dedicated individuals who have contributed to the development of the CAARS 2. Their tireless efforts contributed immeasurably to the ambitious development goals for this project being met. The support and enthusiasm that everyone at MHS has shown for the project are very much appreciated. Collaborating with the following highly skilled individuals within the different departments of MHS has made the development process of the CAARS 2 a true team effort:

• Hazel Wheldon, CEO
  
  
• Jenni Pitkänen, Chief Product Officer
  
  
• Mathangi Selvamenan, Manager, R&D; Diane Mangalindan, Research Scientist/Team Lead, Data Collection; and Klint Fung, Research Scientist
  
  
• Joanna Solomon, Manager, Psychometrics & Data; Sam Snetsinger, Psychometrician/Scoring Architect; Brady Hansma, Psychometrician; and Heather Clark, Psychometric Consultant
  
  
• Devika Venkatachalam, Product & Solutions Manager; and Robert Ramkhalawansingh, Product & Solutions Manager
  
  
• Mike Sparling, Chief Operating Officer and Chief Technology Officer
  
  
• Jennifer Moon, Project Director; Rashmi Balu, Project Manager; Nasuha Wahid, Project Manager; and Vrinda Bhagat, Project Manager
  
  
• Pooja Kaushal, Manager, User Experience; Madeleine Pryce, Team Lead, UX; Angelika Kot, User Interface Architect; Wayne Venpin, UX Designer; David Wiechorek, Sr. Technical Writer; Duy Tridon, UX Designer; and Rob Soltani, WordPress Developer
  
  
• Breno Assis, Manager, First-Party Solution Engineering; Marcel Ogando, Team Lead, 1st-Party Solutions Engineering; Anubhav Jain, Software Engineer; Tyler Querido, Software Engineer; Matthew Chiasson, Software Engineer; and Kyle Rowe, Software Engineer.
  
  
• Shatha Abuelaish, Manager, Quality Assurance & Continuous Integration; Maria-Luisa Marocco, Business Analyst; Deena Logan, Psychometrics QA Analyst; Manazir Ahmed, QA Engineer; Ssowjanya HariShankar, Team Lead, Quality Assurance; Rita Gimmelshtein, QA Engineer; and Anvi Patel, QA Engineer
  
  
• James Lant, Manager, Integrations & Implementations; Arezoo Abdollahi, Predictive Model Developer; Brittany Di Tommaso, Solution and Implementation Manager; Jessica Querido, Team Lead, Janus Engineering; Sandhya Mukkamala, Predictive Model Developer
  
  
• Maryam Aria, Manager, Digital Product Implementation
  
  
• John Clarke, Chief Revenue Officer
  
  
• Jill Thornhill, Manager, Content Marketing; Elaina Falcone Antonello, Team Lead, Creative Content; Claude Poulin Jr., Multimedia Graphic Designer; and Carley Noble, Multimedia Coordinator
  
  
• Janelle Bierdeman, Business Development Manager, Clinical Education
  
  
• Helen Jarvis, Business Development Manager, International
  
  
• Sarah Weinberg, International Partner Relations Consultant
  
  
• Ji-A Min, Manager, Curriculum Development; Tyler Hewitt, Project Lead, Instructional Designer; Smadar Shneider, Instructional Designer and Facilitator
  
  
• Claudia Roy, Director, Contracts and Legal Operations
  
  

Much appreciation as well for the significant contributions of past MHS employees, including Gill Sitarenios, Gelareh Jowkar, Matthew Schmidt, Lindsay Ayearst, and Zoe Hodgetts.

Developing a well-normed, psychometrically sound, and culturally fair empirical scale requires extensive data collection. MHS thanks the numerous individuals from clinics across the United States and Canada whose cooperation, enthusiasm, persistence, and commitment to quality made the collection of such data possible.

The people listed below contributed significantly to the data collection process. These practitioners, who truly care about the individuals they work with, embody so much of what MHS stands for: excellence, integrity, and the desire to improve lives.

Caitlin Cox Treffert, Ed.S., NCSP; Carly Rodgers, Ph.D.; Cassandra Kennell, Psy.D.; Connie Schoenrade, B.A.; H. Denise Wooten, Psy.D; Emily Engelland Wilson, M.A.; Jasmine Ramirez; Jennifer Smitkin, Psy.D.; Joyce E. Newcomb, Ph.D., R.N., B-C, LMHC, LMFT; John Gruszkos, Ph.D., LLC; Karla Austin, Ph.D.; Kathleen Barrett, Psy.D.; Kimberly Booker; Leneigh White, NCC, LPCC-S; Linda Monroe, Ph.D., HSPP; Michael A. Roman, Ph.D.; Monica Hernandez, Ph.D.; Richard Snaith; Sam Wallace Ph.D.; Tim Truemper, M.S., LPA; and Tracy Mayne, Ed.S., NCSP.

Most importantly, we are extremely grateful to all of the individuals who completed the CAARS 2. Their data supported our selection of the items for the test and helped us create the normative scores for the measure.

MHS also thanks Jessica McCabe (http://howtoadhd.com), not only for her remarkable educational and advocacy efforts related to ADHD, but also for the instrumental role she played in the data collection for the CAARS 2.

Sara Rzepa, M.A.
Director, Research & Development
October 2023