This study tested a new group program for mothers with at least mild depressive symptoms whose children have ADHD. It included 98 mother-child pairs from the Washington, DC area, with children aged 6 to 12. A minority of the mothers (20.4%) met criteria for major depression at the start.
Mothers were randomly assigned to one of two programs of 14 weekly two-hour group sessions. One was standard behavioral parent training (51 mothers). The other added depression coping skills to that training (47 mothers). Families were assessed before, right after, and 3 to 6 months later.
Right after treatment, observers rated parenting in the combined group as less negative, a moderate difference. Their children showed less observed misbehavior, a similar-sized difference. At follow-up, 34.6% of children in the combined group showed reliable improvement in disruptive behavior. In the standard group, the figure was 11.8%.
In the other direction, standard training did better at follow-up on observed positive parenting, a moderate to large difference.
This was a small treatment development study with only five groups per program, so the authors said it could not be judged on statistical significance. At follow-up, between 39% and 69% of the data was missing. Mothers who did not complete assessments were younger and less educated, with more impaired children. Teachers did not rate outcomes, and fathers were not included in treatment.
The numbers Stats and what the terms mean
The statistics behind the plain-language claims above.
- Chronis-Tuscano, 2013: observed negative parenting, from the start to right after treatment, g = -.56, favoring the combined program.
- Chronis-Tuscano, 2013: observed child misbehavior, from the start to right after treatment, g = -.52, favoring the combined program.
- Chronis-Tuscano, 2013: observed positive parenting, from the start to follow-up, g = -.75, favoring standard training.
What the terms mean:
- d (Cohen's d): how big a difference is, between groups or from before to after, on a shared scale. Roughly, 0.2 is small, 0.5 is moderate and 0.8 is large. A minus sign only shows which way the difference went; the finding says which side it favors.
- g (Hedges' g): the same idea as d, with a small fix for small studies. Read it on the same scale.
Source: Andrea Chronis‐Tuscano, Tana L. Clarke, Kelly O’Brien, et al.. Development and preliminary evaluation of an integrated treatment targeting parenting and depressive symptoms in mothers of children with attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder.. Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology (2013). doi:10.1037/a0032112