Developing objective method for the effects of behavioral parent training in children with ADHD

2020 Fiscal Year Final Research Report

• Project/Area Number: 19K21755
• Research Category: Grant-in-Aid for Challenging Research (Exploratory)
• Allocation Type: Multi-year Fund
• Review Section: Medium-sized Section 9:Education and related fields
• Research Institution: University of Fukui
• Principal Investigator: Tomoda Akemi 福井大学, 子どものこころの発達研究センター, 教授 (80244135)
• Project Period (FY): 2019-06-28 – 2021-03-31
• Keywords: ペアレントトレーニング / 発達障害 / 注意欠如多動症(ADHD) / マルトリートメント / 脳画像解析 / 教育者支援

Outline of Final Research Achievements

The purpose of this study was to examine whether the beneficial effects of behavioral parent training (BPT) as an indirect psychosocial treatment are extended to cognitive manifestations beyond behavioral symptoms of ADHD. Thirty children with ADHD and their mothers participated and were randomly assigned to either the standard BPT or waitlist control group. Using two objective laboratory-based tasks of inhibitory control (i.e., go/no-go and single response selection tasks), we assessed baseline and post-treatment response inhibition to suppress task-irrelevant responses and response selection to select task-relevant responses. In addition to decreased ADHD symptoms and negative parenting, the BPT group exhibited significantly improved performance in the single response selection task, but not in the go/no-go task, compared with the waitlist control group. These findings provide extended evidence that BPT has beneficial effects on cognitive inhibitory control in children with ADHD.

Free Research Field

小児発達学

Academic Significance and Societal Importance of the Research Achievements

本研究から得られる結果は、科学的根拠に基づく効果的な子育て支援方法の確立に寄与するものであり、日本における発達障害児およびその養育者への社会的支援の質の向上と、発達障害児とその家族のquality of lifeの向上に資するものと考える。少子高齢化が進む現状において、小児発達期の心理社会学的治療・支援に焦点をあてた本研究は解明される医学的見地により実証データに基づいた提言が可能となり、発達障害児を持つ養育者や支援者の長期的支援教育など、今後の教育学（子ども学）領域での発展に寄与すると期待される。