Parental functioning in families of children with ADHD: evidence for behavioral parent training and importance of clinically meaningful change.

ABSTRACT

OBJECTIVE/METHOD: Statistically significant and clinically meaningful effects of behavioral parent training on parental functioning were examined for 20 children with ADHD and their parents who had successfully completed a psychosocial treatment for ADHD. RESULTS/CONCLUSION: Findings suggest that behavioral parent training resulted in statistically significant improvements in some domains of parenting behavior for both mothers and fathers and in reductions in most domains of parenting stress for mothers. Importantly, clinically meaningful change also was noted for these parental functioning areas, as well as for other domains of parental functioning that did not result in statistically significant findings. Clinical implications are discussed.