A randomised control trial of parent and child training programmes (versus wait list control) for children with ADHD-type behaviours: A pilot study

Abstract

Objective: A randomised control trial was conducted to assess whether the combined Incredible Years parent training and child training programmes (PT + CT) led to improvements in ADHD-type behaviours in children, when compared to a PT-only group and a Wait List Control (WLC) group. Method: Forty-five families with a child aged 3-7 years who displayed ADHD-type behaviours were referred for treatment and randomised to a combined treatment group (PT + CT; n = 12), a PT group (n = 19) or a WLC group (n = 14). Programmes were delivered by community-based organisations. Short-term follow-up (six months) assessments were undertaken with parents and children based on parent reports of child behaviour and parent well-being and behaviour. A qualitative sub-study was also conducted with parent participants (n = 8) and programme facilitators (n = 5) to explore experiences and views of the combined programme. Results: Statistically significant differences were found between the PT group and the WLC group with regard to child hyperactivity (p < 0.001) and pro-social skills (p < 0.05). No significant differences were found between the combined group (PT + CT) and the PT group except for child hyperactivity (p < 0.05), which was significantly lower in the PTonly group. Significant effects were found for PT + CT versus WLC on the Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire Impact subscale only. Conclusion: These findings suggest that the combined treatment (PT + CT) produced little added benefit for child hyperactive/ inattentive behaviour post-intervention despite the very positive views expressed by parents in the qualitative interviews. The PT training alone was more effective in tackling some core ADHD behaviours when compared to the WLC group, but a need for further more large-scale research is indicated. Trial Registration: ISRCTN82596506.

Does behavioural parent training reduce internalising symptoms (or not) among children with externalising problems? Systematic review and meta-analysis

“…The pooled sample size of participants across 24 studies was N= 2,329 (range 14-161) parents. Where parent gender was reported in studies, the majority were female mothers [45][46][47][48][49][50][51][52][53][54][55][56][57][58]. The remaining studies reported on measures provided by a 'parent' but did not specify the gender [59][60][61][62][63][64][65][66][67] .…”

“…The average age of the child was 5.88 years (SD= 1.82; range 3.81 to 10.35 years). Selection of children into individual studies were based on them having either diagnosis of ADHD, CD or ODD [37,47,52,59, 67] , the children having externalising scores in the clinical range [37,46,48,[50][51][52][53]61, 63, 65, 66, 68, 69], or elevated symptoms of externalising behaviours that caused parental concern for their child and/or parenting [37, 45, 48, 50, 51, 56, 60-62, 64, 70-72]. Additionally, some studies included additional inclusion criteria: premature birth [68] giftedness [64], at risk for maltreatment [72], or placed in a licenced nonrelative foster home [53].…”

“…In relation to the interventions evaluated, ve evaluated Parent-Child Interaction Therapy[45,52,53, 68,72], eight studies evaluated Incredible Years Parent Program[37,47,51, 56,59, 62, 65,71], ve studies evaluated Triple P Positive Parenting Program [60, 63, 64, 66, 67], three studies evaluated Parent Management Training, the Oregon model [48, 61, 70], one study evaluated ACT Raising Kids Safe Parenting Programme [46], one study evaluated Well Parent Japan [69], and one study evaluated Brief Parent Training [50]. A total of eight studies delivered the intervention in individual-based format [45, 50-52, 68-70, 72] and 16 studies delivered the intervention in group-based format [37, 46-49, 53, 56, 59-67, 71].…”

Changes in Prosocial Behaviors Among Children With Behavioral Problems Following Incredible Years Parenting Program

“…In general, literature had strongly suggested the effectiveness of the IYPP in improving children’s behaviors with small to large effect sizes ( Javier et al, 2016 ; Seabra-Santos et al, 2016 ; Morpeth et al, 2017 ; Murray et al, 2017 ; Weeland et al, 2017 ; Leckey et al, 2018 ; Leijten et al, 2018a ; Gardner et al, 2019 ; Karjalainen et al, 2019 ; van Aar et al, 2019 ). Except for Weeland et al (2017) , who studied the program’s effect on 4-8 year-olds, most of the recent IYPP studies focused on preschool children of a much younger age.…”

“For Every Child, the Right to a Childhood” UNICEF (2019)

“…The final paper, "A randomised control trial of parent and child training programmes (versus wait list control) for children with ADHD-type behaviours: A pilot study" by Leckey et al (2018), describes a mixed methods study, conducted in the Republic of Ireland, which evaluates the combined Incredible Years parent training and child training programmes (PT + CT) in respect of outcomes for children with Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD). ADHD is described as a chronic and debilitating behavioural disorder that emerges in early childhood and is characterised by maladaptively high levels of inattention, hyperactivity and impulsivity (Harpin, 2005); it affects approximately 3-9% of children in the UK (National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence, 2008).…”