Feasibility, Acceptability, and Preliminary Outcomes of a Culturally Adapted Evidence-Based Treatment for Latino Youth With ADHD

Abstract

Objective: To advance our knowledge about the most effective way to treat Latino youth with ADHD, the current feasibility and pilot study compared a culturally adapted evidence-based treatment (CAT) for ADHD to standard evidence-based treatment (EBT).Method: Following a comprehensive ADHD assessment, 61 Latino families of school-aged children (mean age of 8 years) were randomly assigned to either CAT or standard EBT (i.e., parent management training).Results: CAT outperformed standard EBT when examining homework completion and mother-reported treatment satisfaction. Apart from two trends favoring CAT, CAT and EBT both resulted in significant improvements in parent-and teacher-reported ADHD symptoms and functional impairment, as well as motherand father-reported parental functioning.Conclusion: CAT outperformed standard EBT when examining several engagement and acceptability outcomes. CAT and EBT were equally effective when examining traditional treatment outcomes, which is impressive considering the robustness of standard EBT, especially when delivered by culturally competent staff.

Parental ADHD Knowledge in Latinx Families: Gender Differences and Treatment Effects

“…After obtaining consent from parents and teachers and assent from youth, a multi-method, multi-informant assessment of ADHD, including parent, teacher, and youth interviews and measures, was conducted for each youth (see Gerdes et al, 2019 for more description of the assessment process). As part of the assessment, parents completed the ADHD Knowledge Measure, which is described in greater detail below.…”

“…Following the completion of treatment, parents again completed the ADHD Knowledge Measure, in addition to other measures. See Gerdes et al (2015Gerdes et al ( , 2019 for more detail, including the development of CAT.…”

“…This is not surprising given that mothers still serve as the primary caregivers in most families and are the parent most often responsible for seeking mental health treatment for their child (Boulter & Rickwood, 2013). Although only indirectly related, treatment outcome research examining PMT in families of youth with ADHD also suggests that mothers may possess greater knowledge of ADHD than fathers given that mothers consistently demonstrate improvements in more parental domains than fathers following treatment (Gerdes et al, 2010(Gerdes et al, , 2019. This suggests that mothers of youth with ADHD may have greater knowledge of or involvement with their child, at least as it pertains to their mental health.…”

Revisiting caregiver satisfaction with children’s mental health services in the United States

“…The remaining articles reviewed had less thorough descriptions of their conceptualization of caregiver satisfaction, but a few commonalities among studies emerged. Five studies conceptualized caregiver satisfaction as a measure of engagement or acceptability of a mental health intervention [ 9 , 38 , 52 , 78 , 89 , 90 ]. Three studies explained their measurement of satisfaction as a measurement of caregivers’ perceptions of treatment effectiveness [ 41 , 53 , 75 ].…”

“…For example, from our review, Gerdes et al [ 38 ] aimed to examine engagement and acceptability outcomes, which they measured as parental attendance, retention, engagement, and satisfaction. Liddle et al [ 57 ] examined implementation outcomes including fidelity, treatment engagement and retention rates, amount of services received, team collaboration measures, and satisfaction with services.…”