Parent Expectations in the Treatment of Children with ADHD

by Caserta, Donald Albert

CASERTA, DONALD A., M.A., May 2008 PSYCHOLOGY PARENT EXPECTATIONS IN THE TREATMENT OF CHILDREN WITH ADHD (37 pp.) Director of Thesis: E. Thomas Dowd Although researchers have begun to investigate the potential mediators and moderators that impact the treatment responses of children diagnosed with attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), limited information has been published regarding the role of parental expectancy effects. Previous research has indicated that the desired effects parents hold at baseline about their children's treatment do not likely contribute to variation in actual outcome ratings. The present study prospectively assessed the role of baseline parent expectations of treatment benefit in actual, post-treatment ratings of 1) symptom severity and 2) global improvement in a sample of 85 children and adolescents who participated in an intensive summer treatment program. Results revealed that parent expectations predicted post-treatment scores on both narrowband and broadband measures, but not on a measure of global improvement, after controlling for baseline scores. These findings suggest that clinicians and researchers may consider parent expectations of treatment benefit when developing future research and treatment protocols.