This study looked at parents of children aged 6 to 12 with ADHD who attended an eight-session behavioral parent training group at an outpatient clinic. The diagnosis was reported by parents, not formally checked. Most of the children were boys (74.8%). Of 304 parents, only the 159 with complete ratings from before the first session and at the last session were analyzed.
After the program, parents reported fewer home situations where their child would not comply. They also rated the problems as less severe. The drop in problem situations was small, and the drop in severity was moderate. Severity fell in every situation except time with a babysitter. Fewer parents reported problems with homework and with chores.
Parents also reported less stress linked to their child's behavior. This drop was moderate to large.
There was no comparison group, so the study cannot show the training caused the changes. Parents who stayed may have been those benefiting. Parents knew they were getting a research-based program, which may have colored ratings. Medication changes were not tracked. Families of children with milder problems, and minority families, were less likely to have complete data.
The authors suggest that, in real-world clinics, this training goes with less noncompliance and parenting stress for children aged 6 to 12, though their data come from an uncontrolled before-and-after sample.
The numbers Stats and what the terms mean
The statistics behind the plain-language claims above.
- Ciesielski, 2019: number of home problem situations, before to after, 9.18 (3.85) to 7.89 (3.53), p < .01, d = .38.
- Ciesielski, 2019: average severity of noncompliance, before to after, 2.73 (1.84) to 1.84 (1.24), p < .01, d = .66.
- Ciesielski, 2019: parent stress from child behavior (Stress Experience Index), before to after, 17.06 (7.78) to 11.36 (7.40), p < .01, d = .77.
- Ciesielski, 2019: parent stress from child behavior (Stress Degree Index), before to after, 32.12 (20.44) to 18.49 (16.73), p < .01, d = .74.
- Ciesielski, 2019: share of parents reporting homework problems, 84.7% to 73.2% (McNemar p = .004).
- Ciesielski, 2019: share of parents reporting chore problems, 86.0% to 75.3% (p = .015). What the terms mean:
- (number in brackets) The standard deviation, which shows how spread out the scores were.
- p How likely a difference this size would be if nothing had really changed; below .05 is usually taken as unlikely to be chance.
- McNemar A test of whether the share of the same parents answering yes changed between the two time points.
- d How big the change was. Roughly, 0.2 is small, 0.5 is moderate and 0.8 is large. A minus sign shows the direction of the change, not its size.
Source: Ciesielski H, Loren R, Tamm L. Behavioral Parent Training for ADHD Reduces Situational Severity of Child Noncompliance and Related Parental Stress. Journal of Attention Disorders (2019). doi:10.1177/1087054719843181