Randomized Clinical Trial of Mindfulness Skills Augmentation in Parent Training

• Published in: Child & youth care forum Vol. 46; no. 6; pp. 783 - 803
• Main Authors: Gershy, Naama, Meehan, Kevin B., Omer, Haim, Papouchis, Nicholas, Schorr Sapir, Irit
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: New York Springer US 01.12.2017; Springer; Springer Nature B.V
• Subjects: Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder; Augmentation; Behavior; Behavior problems; Behavioral Science and Psychology; Child and School Psychology; Child development; Child Rearing; Childrearing practices; Children; Clinical research; Clinical skills; Clinical trials; Coercion; Effectiveness; Emotional regulation; Emotional Response; Emotions; Families & family life; Family (Sociological Unit); Fathers; Hierarchical Linear Modeling; Hypothesis Testing; Intervention; Metacognition; Mindfulness; Mothers; Nonviolence; Original Paper; Parent Education; Parent training; Parenthood education; Parenting Skills; Parents; Parents & parenting; Program Effectiveness; Psychology; Randomized Controlled Trials; Resistance; Self Control; Skill Development; Skills; Symptoms; Symptoms (Individual Disorders); Training; Treatment methods; ADHD; Nonviolent resistance; Parent training; Mindfulness; Emotion regulation
• ISSN: 1053-1890; 1573-3319
• DOI: 10.1007/s10566-017-9411-4

Background The development of mindfulness parenting programs in recent years offers a promising direction for targeting parental emotional dysregulation in families of children with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). Nevertheless, research on the effectiveness of mindfulness parenting programs is limited, and little is known about the contribution of mindfulness skills to parenting when integrated with parent training (PT). Objective The present study evaluated a mindfulness skills augmentation to PT for ADHD. We hypothesized that mindfulness-enhanced PT would improve parental emotion regulation and reduce hostile and coercive parenting. Method We developed a 90-min mindfulness skills protocol and integrated it with a nonviolent resistance (NVR) PT program addressing ADHD and behavior difficulties. A total of 79 families were randomly assigned to PT or mindfulness-enhanced PT. Forty-three families completed intervention. We used multilevel modeling to evaluate parental emotion regulation, hostile and coercive parenting, and child behavioral symptoms across treatments and over time. Results Across treatment conditions, mothers’ negative feelings, escalating behaviors, and capacity for emotion regulation improved significantly following treatment. Fathers in the mindfulness condition reported greater improvement in the capacity for emotion regulation, reduced negative feelings, and reduced parental submission compared with fathers in the PT condition. We found no differences in child externalizing symptoms, which decreased significantly in both groups. Conclusions Study results suggest that PT in NVR is effective in improving maternal capacity for emotion regulation and in reducing hostile and coercive parenting. For fathers, a mindfulness-based skills augmentation may be important for enhancing treatment benefits.