The Impact of Behavioral Parent Training on Quality of Life and Parenting Stress in Mothers of Children with ADHD

Abstract

ttention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) is a neurodevelopmental disorder characterized by high levels of inattention, hyperactivity and impulsivity that are seen in a range of situations, inconsistent with the child’s developmental level and causing social or academic impairment. ADHD families are often characterized by conflicted parent- child interaction patterns and applying less effective parenting strategies, resulting in elevated levels of parenting stress, and poorer QOL among parents. Parent training programs are psychosocial interventions aimed at training parents on techniques that enable them to manage their children’s challenging behavior. Based on that, this study was conducted at Institute of psychiatry, Ain shams university hospital, Cairo, Egypt, aiming to study effect of Parent Training Program on parenting stress, and QOL in mothers of children with ADHD and on the severity of ADHD and functional impairment of the children. Thirty mothers of ADHD children were included in this study. The study took place from June 2019 till January 2020. All subjects of the study were asked to complete: Updated Socioeconomic Status Scale (SES): to determine the socioeconomic status of the subjects; Arabic version of Conners’ Parent Rating Scale (CPRS): to grade the severity of ADHD in the children; Arabic version of WHO Quality Of Life-BREF (WHOQOL-BREF): to assess the quality of life among mothers; Arabic version of Parenting Stress Index (PSI): to assess the parenting stress among mothers; Weiss Functional Impairment Rating Scale-Parent Form Arabic version (WFIRS-P): for assessment of functional impairment in the children. This initial assessment was repeated again after undergoing parent training by Barkley’s Parent Training Program through weekly group therapy sessions for the mothers over a period of 10 weeks.