RCT of EF Family Training for P ADHD

Executive Functioning Family Training for Preschool Children With Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder - a Randomized Controlled Study

To explore the effect of executive function family training for preschool children with ADHD, providing early social psychological intervention for aiming the core impairments of ADHD.

100 preschool children with ADHD will be randomly divided into the intervention group and the waiting group. The waiting group received regular clinical intervention, while the intervention group received 12-week training. The intervention program includes executive function training for ADHD children and parenting guidance for parents by two therapists respectively, which were carried out in two meeting rooms in Xinhua Hospital. Therapists are psychiatrists with a background in child psychiatry and psychotherapists with training in ADHD area. After 12 weeks, the improvement of ADHD core symptoms and executive function was compared.

Inclusion Criteria:

• Meet the diagnostic criteria for preschool ADHD, based on the the DSM-5 criteria by the attending physician or above;
• Age 4 months 0 to 5 years 11 months;
• Total IQ is above 80 assessed by WPPSI.

Exclusion Criteria:

• Attention deficit disorders resulting from organic neurological diseases, extensive developmental disorders, mental retardation, childhood schizophrenia, mood disorders, epilepsy, and other organic diseases or other primary mental disorders;
• parent or guardian with a serious mental illness, such as schizophrenia, mood disorder (onset), etc., and Educational level is lower than junior middle school;
• Participants who failed to attend more than 80% of the intervention sessions (at least 9 sessions).