Purpose: Qualitative research aimed at understanding the stress of parents of children with ADHD is limited and few interventions have been designed to directly target their stress. The study aim was to explore the stress of parents of children with ADHD using qualitative methodology.Methods: Thirteen parents of children with ADHD participated in two focus groups. Open-ended questions explored parents’ experiences of stress. Focus groups were recorded, transcribed, and coded using thematic analysis. Parents also completed the Parenting Stress Index–Short Form.Results: Four primary themes were identified: The child’s behaviour feels like a “wrecking ball”; Coping with the “war at home”; A divided family: “relationships don’t survive”; and Craving support: “it’s goddamn hard work”. Five of eleven participants who completed the PSI-SF scored in the clinically significant range indicating levels of stress that require professional support.Conclusions: Parents attribute their high stress to their children’s behaviour, unmet needs for support, and social stigma. Parents request support to enable them to cope and appear to represent a clinical population who require mental health care and support themselves. Future interventions directly targeting the stress of parents of children with ADHD may provide wide-ranging benefits for their children and families.

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Background and Objectives Analyser blockage due to gel formation by paraproteins leading to invalid results is a rare problem in viral nucleic acid testing (NAT) at New Zealand Blood Service (NZBS) despite many blood samples tested without problems from individuals with known paraproteins. This study aimed to identify common factors in samples causing blockages. Method Retrospective data were gathered on blood samples known to have blocked analysers at NZBS testing sites. Patients with plasma cell dyscrasia undergoing haematopoietic stem cell (HSC) harvest formed the comparator arm. These patients were identified from registry data of individuals undergoing autologous stem cell transplantation at Auckland City Hospital between 2013 and 2017. Results Four individuals were identified as having blocked analysers between 2010 and 2018. A total of 184 HSC transplant patients were identified, with contemporaneous paraprotein levels available for 177 (96%). Patients with intact immunoglobulin subtypes (134, 73%) were further analysed. Of these, 119 patients (65%) also had total protein and globulin levels available. Mean paraprotein (37.5 g/l), total protein (95.3 g/l), globulin levels (51.5 g/l) and proportion of lambda subtype (75%) were higher in the blocker group compared with non‐blocking comparators (4.7 g/l, 66.8 g/l, 27.7 g/l, 36.6% respectively) (P = 0·03, 0·02, 0·007, 0·12). The highest paraprotein and total protein levels from the non‐blocking cohort overlapped with the lowest of the blocker group. Discussion High protein levels (paraprotein >20 g/l, total protein >75 g/l) and a trend towards lambda subtype were associated with NAT analyser blockage. The overlap with non‐blocking donor samples suggests factors in addition to protein quantity that are also important.

This mixed-methods single arm pilot study examined the feasibility, acceptability, and preliminary outcomes of a co-designed mindful parenting intervention for parents of children with ADHD, Parents that Mind (PTM). The 5-week parent-only intervention comprised two face-to-face group retreats and 5 weeks home practice. Eighteen parents of children with ADHD participated in PTM, completing self-report questionnaires and semi-structured interviews. Indicating high acceptability, 100% of parents interviewed reported PTM was helpful and they would recommend PTM. High feasibility of parents attending one face-to-face retreat was observed, with all parents attending the first retreat, however intervention adherence was challenging, with 55% of parents attending the second retreat. Barriers to intervention adherence included: lack of time, work commitments, illness and exhaustion. Quantitative data indicate promising preliminary effects for parents and children. Addressing the barriers raised by parents in this pilot appear necessary, before examining efficacy in a blinded RCT.