Razi Journal of Medical Sciences

Background: Children with attention deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) often experience academic difficulties. Stimulants have limited effect on cognitive abilities important to academic progress and that academic interventions are indicated in children with ADHD. Poor academic programs and other aspects of ADHD may cause conflict with parents and there is little information on the efficacy of multimodal parental management training that includes academic assistance and (Parental management training) PMT combined with methylphenidate. The current study evaluates the adjunctive efficacy multimodal parental management training in children with ADHD treated with methylphenidate.

Methods: Participants were 62 parents of children with a principal diagnosis of ADHD, being treated by child and adolescent psychiatrist .The children were aged between 6 to 12 years. Parents were randomly divided into 2 groups: the intervention group (who participated in 6 sessions for 2 hours multimodal PMT (N=31) and a control group (N=31). Individuals were included only if their children were taking Ritalin for at least 3 months and they should not be absent more than 1 session in a program. Participants in two groups filled demographic data questionnaires and were given a pretest that was Conners' Parent Rating Scale-Revised (CPRS-R) plus academic questions. Posttest was given after 6 educational sessions in sample group and after 1 and 3 months in both groups. Finally, the mean pretest and posttest scores were analyzed with SPSS v.16 software.

Results: There were no significant differences in pre intervention measures between the two groups. After intervention, the mean scores of CPRS-R between the two groups was significantly different in the two groups for academic achievement (p&le0.001), hyperactivity (p&le0.004), inattention (p&le0.008), impulsivity (p&le0.001) and oppositional behaviors (p&le0.001).

Conclusion: Multimodal PMT combined with methylphenidate can be recommended for parents of children with ADHD to enhance the academic achievement and reduce problem behaviors of school aged children (hyperactivity, inattention, impulsivity, oppositional).