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Child /Adolescent - ADHD

Helping Parents Feel Competent: Family Empowerment for Parents with Children with/at-risk for ADHD in Behavioral Parent Training with Optimistic Parenting

(PS6-77) Helping Parents Feel Competent: Family Empowerment for Parents with Children With/at-risk for ADHD in Behavioral Parent Training with Optimistic Parenting

Friday, November 15, 2024
4:00 PM – 5:00 PM EST
Location: Franklin Hall, Level 4, Marriott Downtown
Abstract Text: As ADHD is found in 1 in 10 children (Li et al., 2023), the heterogeneity of its caregiver population and their responses to current treatment recommendations warrants investigation. Both parent personality (Brown et al., 2012; Kochanska et al., 2007) and parent ADHD symptomatology (Smit et al., 2021) have independently been linked to parenting styles (e.g., positive parenting). This study examined whether parent ADHD symptoms and parent personality types were associated with caregiver reports of family empowerment, after completion of either online or face-to-face Behavioral Parent Training (BPT) that included optimistic parent training based on cognitive behavioral techniques (e.g., cognitive restructuring, disputation). We analyzed data from 88 families with preschoolers with or at-risk for ADHD (Mean age 4.54 ; 65.19% assigned male at birth) participating in a randomized trial of BPT.  Measures included the Adult ADHD-Rating Scale, Family Empowerment Scale - Competence subscale, and the HEXACO Personality Inventory-Revised. Results indicated that when adjusting for parent ADHD and parent personality traits, families in treatment groups (in-person or online) reported significantly higher competency levels regarding family empowerment skills at post-treatment compared to pre-treatment; the same results were not found for families in the waitlist control group. Data collected at pre-treatment indicated that that all families, regardless of group assignment, reported similar levels of competency in family empowerment (F[2, 78] = .88, p = .417, partial η2 = .02); however, when comparing the changes after the 10-week intervention (F[2, 78] = 4.09, p = .02, partial η2 = .10), families in the face-to-face intervention reported significantly higher competence scores than the waitlist group at post-treatment (p < .001). Families in the online intervention did not have significantly different competence scores when compared to those in the face-to-face intervention (p = .074). The only parent personality variable that was significantly associated with measured competence in family empowerment was caregiver’s extraversion (F[1, 78] = 10.62, p = .002, partial η2 = .12), such that higher levels of a caregiver’s extraversion were associated with higher levels of reported competence in family empowerment. Parent-reported ADHD symptomatology was not significantly associated with competence (F[1, 78] = 10.62, p = .272, partial η2 = .02). Findings suggest that a 10-week BPT that includes additional cognitive-behavioral optimistic parenting skills helped increase perceived competence in family empowerment reported at post-treatment. These results were found for both treatment groups even when adjusting for parent personality and ADHD symptoms. Findings indicate that BPT with both ADHD behavioral management strategies and optimistic parenting training can increase a family’s  reported competence in supporting their child with ADHD. These changes can be found for both parents with or without ADHD, as well as parents with various personality traits.