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A small-scale randomized controlled trial of the revised new forest parenting programme for preschoolers with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder

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Abstract

The revised new forest parenting programme (NFPP) is an 8-week psychological intervention designed to treat ADHD in preschool children by targeting, amongst other things, both underlying impairments in self-regulation and the quality of mother–child interactions. Forty-one children were randomized to either the revised NFPP or treatment as usual conditions. Outcomes were ADHD and ODD symptoms measured using questionnaires and direct observation, mothers’ mental health and the quality of mother–child interactions. Effects of the revised NFPP on ADHD symptoms were large (effect size >1) and significant and effects persisted for 9 weeks post-intervention. Effects on ODD symptoms were less marked. There were no improvements in maternal mental health or parenting behavior during mother–child interaction although there was a drop in mothers’ negative and an increase in their positive comments during a 5-min speech sample. The small-scale trial, although limited in power and generalizability, provides support for the efficacy of the revised NFPP. The findings need to be replicated in a larger more diverse sample.

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Acknowledgments

The project was funded by The Island of Guernsey Research Fund through Wessex Medical Trust HOPE to MT, ES-B, LP, PT. We would like to thank the health visitors and other health staff on the Island of Guernsey for supporting our project and the help we were given from the press of Guernsey for promoting the project. Lastly we would like to thank all the families who took part.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. School of Psychology, Institute for Disorders of Impulse and Attention, University of Southampton, Southampton, SO17 1BJ, UK

    Margaret J. J. Thompson, Catherine Dodds, Lamprini Psychogiou, Paraskevi Bitsakou & Edmund J. S. Sonuga-Barke

  2. School of Nursing, University of Southampton, Southampton, UK

    Cathy Laver-Bradbury

  3. Child and Adolescent Mental Health Service, Southampton City PCT, Southampton, UK

    Margaret J. J. Thompson, Cathy Laver-Bradbury & Anne Weeks

  4. Child and Adolescent Mental Health Service, Guernsey, UK

    Michelle Ayres, Emma Le Poidevin, Sarah Mead & Penny Thompson

  5. School of Psychology, Bangor University, North Wales, UK

    David Daley

  6. Child Study Center, New York University School of Medicine, New York, USA

    Laurie Miller Brotman & Howard Abikoff

  7. Social, Genetic, Developmental Psychiatry Centre, Institute of Psychiatry, London, UK

    Edmund J. S. Sonuga-Barke

  8. Department of Experimental Clinical and Health Psychology, Ghent University, Ghent, Belgium

    Edmund J. S. Sonuga-Barke

Authors
  1. Margaret J. J. Thompson
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  2. Cathy Laver-Bradbury
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  3. Michelle Ayres
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  6. Catherine Dodds
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  7. Lamprini Psychogiou
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  8. Paraskevi Bitsakou
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  9. David Daley
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  10. Anne Weeks
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  11. Laurie Miller Brotman
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  12. Howard Abikoff
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  13. Penny Thompson
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  14. Edmund J. S. Sonuga-Barke
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Correspondence to Margaret J. J. Thompson.

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Thompson, M.J.J., Laver-Bradbury, C., Ayres, M. et al. A small-scale randomized controlled trial of the revised new forest parenting programme for preschoolers with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder. Eur Child Adolesc Psychiatry 18, 605–616 (2009). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00787-009-0020-0

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00787-009-0020-0

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