Mindfulness-Based Intervention for Chinese Children with ADHD and Their Parents: a Pilot Mixed-Method Study

This was a pilot pre–post-intervention study with added qualitative focused group discussions and interviews to examine the feasibility, acceptability, and effects of a mindfulness-based intervention (the 8-week MYmind course) for Chinese children with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) aged 8 to 12 years (n = 11) and one of their parents (n = 11). Outcomes included feasibility and acceptability of MYmind, objective measures of children’s attention and related problems, parent-reported child executive function and behavior problems, and parents’ parental stress, parenting styles, and mindful parenting. The attendance rate of MYmind (≥6 out of 8 sessions) was 91%: only one family withdrew from the course. Participants expressed overall positive views about MYmind. They also expressed their changes after the course, barriers and facilitators for course participation and completion, and suggestions on course improvement. The overall satisfaction scores were 7.3 (2.1) and 8.0 (1.2) out of 10 among the children and parents, respectively. With respect to the quantitative results, after multiple testing correction, positive results with large effect sizes only occurred on the objective attention tests: “time per target,” “attention score,” and “map mission” of the Test of Everyday Attention for Children (TEA-Ch) and “omissions” of the computerized Conners’ Continuous Performance Test 3rd Edition (CPT 3), whereas no statistically significant changes were seen in other measures, i.e., children’s other results in the TEA-Ch and CPT 3, parents’ perceived child problems on the Eyberg Child Behavior Inventory (ECBI) and the Behavior Rating Inventory of Executive Function (BRIEF), as well as parents’ scores of the Parenting Stress Index (PSI), Parenting Scale (PS), and Interpersonal Mindfulness in Parenting (IM-P). The MYmind course is a feasible and acceptable intervention among Chinese children with ADHD and their parents. The preliminary significant quantitative results should be interpreted with much caution due to potential effects from learning on neurocognitive outcomes. Larger studies with a control group are needed.

This pilot trial is registered in the World Health Organization (WHO) Registry Network—Chinese Clinical Trial Register (ChiCTR). The reference number is ChiCTR-OPC-15006686.