Systematic parental training helps the well-being of preschool children with ADHD

https://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2020-09/au-spt091620.php

News Release 16-Sep-2020
Aarhus University

Research findings from Aarhus University and the Central Denmark Region's Child and Adolescent Psychiatric Centre show that quality of life is poorer for preschool children with ADHD compared to children from the control population. But the children's quality of life can be significantly improved using treatment without medication.

Hyperactivity, difficulty concentrating, impulsive behaviour and problems adapting to the social ground rules. These are some of the areas in which children with ADHD struggle and which affect their everyday lives. For the first time, researchers have now systematically examined the quality of life of preschool children with ADHD.

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However, the good news is that the children's well-being significantly increased after treatment.

"We examined whether treating ADHD symptoms with non-pharmalogical treatment had a positive effect on the quality of life and the factors that help improve the quality of life," explains medical student Liva Bundgaard Larsen, who, under the supervision of senior researchers, was the research year student behind the study .

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 We looked at the effect of both types of treatment, and in both cases the children scored significantly higher on the psychosocial score in quality of life after completing the treatment," says Liva Bundgaard Larsen and emphasises that the improvement of the quality of life was shown to last 36 weeks after the treatment was completed.

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The study also showed that parents gained more self-confidence and the family's level of stress was lower. This also had a positive effect on the child's quality of life.

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