Training Parents of Children With ADHD by Mindfulness-based Stress Reduction for Reducing Stress

The Effectiveness of Mindfulness-based Stress Reduction (MBSR) Programme for Parents of Children With ADHD: a Pilot Randomized Controlled Trial

The study aimed at comparing the effects of 8-week MBSR programme intervention group with usual care group in reducing parental stress and improving quality of life of parents of children with ADHD in Chinese culture.

Study Overview

• Status: Completed
• Conditions: Stress, Psychological
• Intervention / Treatment: Behavioral: Mindfulness-based Stress Reduction

Detailed Description

This study aimed at comparing the effects of 8-week mindfulness-based stress reduction (MBSR) intervention with usual care in improving the parental stress, quality of life, and the feasibility and acceptability of MBSR of parents of children with Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) in Chinese context after the coronavirus disease pandemic.

This study was designed as a pilot randomised controlled trial with single-blind repeated measures. By using convenience sampling, 36 parents of children with ADHD were recruited from the Parent Resource Centre of The Salvation Army (Centre), a Non-government Organization in Hong Kong, between July to August 2022. Centre staff invited parents of children aged 3-12 diagnosed with ADHD who can communicate and understand Cantonese to participate. Parents who had physical or severe intellectual disabilities, mental disorders or received any form of psychological intervention or psychiatric services were excluded from this study. All eligible parents were randomized to either the intervention group (n=18) or the usual care group (control) (n=18).

Parents assigned to the intervention group received the MBSR programme and usual services from the Centre. MBSR had eight weekly sessions of 2.5 hours each, plus a whole day retreat in small groups between session 6 and 7. The usual care group remained with usual support from the Centre, with interest activities such as cooking classes or calligraphy classes, but without any other form of intervention during this period.

• Study Type: Interventional
• Enrollment (Actual): 36
• Phase: Not Applicable

Contacts and Locations

Study Locations

• Hong Kong
  • Hong Kong, Hong Kong
    • The Salvation Army - Hong Kong and Macau Command

Participation Criteria

Eligibility Criteria

• Ages Eligible for Study: Child; Adult; Older Adult
• Accepts Healthy Volunteers: No

Description

Inclusion Criteria:

• parents who have a child aged 3-12 with a confirmed diagnosis of ADHD with or without medications
• able to communicate and understand Cantonese

Exclusion Criteria:

• having physical disabilities or severe intellectual impairments
• any forms of mental disorders
• receiving any other form of psychological intervention, behavioural treatment, or psychiatric services

Study Plan

How is the study designed?

Design Details

• Primary Purpose: Supportive Care
• Allocation: Randomized
• Interventional Model: Parallel Assignment
• Masking: Single

Number of Arms

2

Arms and Interventions

Participant Group / Arm	Intervention / Treatment
Experimental: Mindfulness; 8-week mindfulness-based stress reduction training	Behavioral: Mindfulness-based Stress Reduction; An 8-week Mindfulness-based stress reduction training programme
No Intervention: Placebo; received usual care

What is the study measuring?

Primary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure	Measure Description	Time Frame
Self-report of parental stress	self-report of parental stress as measured by Parental Stress Scale (score range from 1-90. The higher the score, the higher the stress level)	immediate after intervention
self-report perceived stress	self-report perceived stress as measured by Perceived Stress Scale (score range from 0-56. The higher the score, the higher the stress level)	immediate after intervention

Secondary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure	Measure Description	Time Frame
self-report mindfulness in parenting	Parental self-reports of adopting mindful parenting strategies as measured by Interpersonal mindfulness in Parenting (Score range from 1-155. The higher score means adopted more mindful in parenting)	At one month after intervention
Parent reports of children's ADHD behaviors in the past 6 months	parent reports of children's ADHD symptoms by using the Strengths and Weakness of ADHD symptoms and normal behavior rating scales (score range from +3 far below average to -3 far above average)	At one month after intervention
self-report quality of life	self-report to access perception of quality of life in four domains including physical, psychological, social relationships and general health (score range from 0 - 100. A higher score indicated a better quality of life)	At one month after intervention

Collaborators and Investigators

• Sponsor: The Hong Kong Polytechnic University
• Collaborators: The Salvation Army, Hong Kong and Macau Command
• Investigators: Principal Investigator: Yim Wah MAK, Ph.D, School of Nursing, The Hong Kong Polytechnic University

Study record dates

Study Major Dates

• Study Start (Actual): June 1, 2022
• Primary Completion (Actual): January 31, 2023
• Study Completion (Actual): January 31, 2023

Study Registration Dates

• First Submitted: December 20, 2023
• First Submitted That Met QC Criteria: January 6, 2024
• First Posted (Actual): January 18, 2024

Study Record Updates

• Last Update Posted (Actual): February 28, 2024
• Last Update Submitted That Met QC Criteria: February 27, 2024
• Last Verified: February 1, 2024

More Information

Terms related to this study

• Keywords: parent; Mindfulness-based stress reduction, parental stress, Attention-Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder ADHD
• Additional Relevant MeSH Terms: Behavioral Symptoms; Stress, Psychological
• Other Study ID Numbers: HSEARS S20211015010

Drug and device information, study documents

• Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated drug product: No
• Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated device product: No