The effectiveness of child mindfulness therapy on the main symptoms and Executive dysfunctions of children with attention deficit / hyperactivity disorder
Zeynab Abdolahzadeh, Ali Mashhadi, Imanollah Bigdeli, Zahra Tabibi
پژوهشهای علوم شناختی و رفتاری May 31, 2022 DOI: 10.22108/cbs.2022.129077.1546 (opens in new tab)
Study at a glance
AI-extracted from the abstract| Characteristics | Quasi-experimental with pre-test, post-test, and follow-up design with control group Peer reviewed |
|---|---|
| Sample size | 38 |
| Population | Girls aged 6 to 12 years with ADHD in Mashhad |
| Intervention | Child mindfulness therapy |
| Duration | Eight sessions |
| Topics | Meditation |
| Keywords | Executive function Child mindfulness therapy |
| Key findings | Child mindfulness therapy reduced ADHD scores and executive dysfunctions in children with ADHD at post-test and follow-up. |
Abstract
Attention Deficit / Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) is associated with problems such as failure in executive dysfunctions. The aim of this study was to evaluate the effectiveness of child mindfulness therapy on the main symptoms and executive dysfunctions of children with ADHD. The research method was quasi-experimental with pre-test, post-test, and follow-up design with the control group. The population of this study consisted of all girls aged 6 to 12 years with ADHD in Mashhad. In this study, 38 girls with ADHD were Selected from normal schools though multi-stage cluster sampling and were randomly assigned to experimental (n = 19) and control (n = 19) groups. Data were collected using the SNAP rating scale (Swanson et al., 1980) and the Deficits in Executive Functioning Scale-Children and Adolescents (Barclay, 2012). For the experimental group, the child's mindfulness therapy was performed in eight sessions and the control group did not receive any intervention during the study. The results showed that training the child mindfulness reduced ADHD scores and executive dysfunctions in post-test and follow-up (p<0.001). Based on the results, it is recommended to use the child mindfulness training to reduce the ADHD symptoms and executive dysfunctions in children with ADHD.
Comparable studies
Other experimental studies on meditation, most cited first.
| Study | Year | Design | Participants |
|---|---|---|---|
| The benefits of being present: Mindfulness and its role in psychological well-being. Cancer patients (clinical intervention study) | 2003 | Mixed methods: scale development, correlational, quasi-experimental, laboratory, experience-sampling, and clinical intervention study | |
| Loving-kindness meditation increases social connectedness. | 2008 | Controlled laboratory experiment | |
| Mindfulness and mind-wandering: Finding convergence through opposing constructs. | 2012 | Two studies: correlational study and experimental study | |
| Mental Training Enhances Attentional Stability: Neural and Behavioral Evidence | 2009 | Experimental study | |
| Mindfulness meditation and substance use in an incarcerated population. Incarcerated population | 2006 | Quasi-experimental with treatment-as-usual control condition |