Training Problem Solving and Organizational Skills in Adolescents With Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder: A Randomized Controlled Trial

Abstract

Attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) is a highly prevalent psychiatric disorder in adolescence and results severe impairment. Few psychosocial interventions aim at ADHD in adolescence and are rarely evaluated in randomized controlled trials (RCTs). Therefore, an intervention combining adolescent-directed problem-solving and organizational skills training with behavioral parent and teacher training has been developed. Its efficacy in comparison to waiting list and active controls is reported.One hundred thirteen adolescents (mean age = 13.99 years) with ADHD were randomly assigned to the training, a waiting list or an active control condition (progressive muscle relaxation [PMR]). Parents and teachers rated ADHD symptoms, academic enablers, and comorbid problems before and after. Results: The training significantly reduced ADHS symptoms and parent- and teacher-rated internalizing problems and increased teacher rated academic enablers compared to waiting list controls. Compared to active controls, results were in the range of small nonsignificant effects. A skills training is an efficacious treatment for adolescent ADHD, however, not significantly superior to PMR. Contrasts between both interventions need to be further investigated.

Interventions for Adolescents With ADHD to Improve Peer Social Functioning: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis

“…The most comprehensive review to date aimed to identify randomized controlled trials (RCTs) including both children and adolescents, but found no RCTs for adolescents in its original review (Storebø et al, 2011). Recently updated (Storebø et al, 2019), subgroup analyses included one RCT for adolescents (defined as 12-18 years) which utilized a more general cognitive-behavioral curriculum of problem-solving and organizational skills, rather than an explicit focus on SST (Schramm et al, 2016). The review concluded that there was not enough quality evidence to support or refute the efficacy of social skills interventions for children and adolescents with ADHD (Storebø et al, 2019).…”

An Individual Participant Data Meta-analysis: Behavioral Treatments for Children and Adolescents With Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder

“…However, such changes in perceptions may of course be important psychological indicators of the rater's beliefs about child behavior (even if not accompanied by actual changes in core symptoms). It could also be argued that intervention recipients themselves (parents or teachers in the instance of children) are the best raters of the child's problems 44 . Further, parent and teacher reported outcomes are better translatable to clinicbased practices, as they are nearly always the only available information source in clinical care.…”

Treatment of Adolescents with Concurrent Substance Use Disorder and Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder: A Systematic Review

“…Our literature search on psychosocial interventions yielded 13 trials, with 1812 participants (range 46-326) fulfilling our selection criteria (Table 3). Five studies examined psychosocial interventions provided to students with ADHD in a school setting [62][63][64][65][66] and eight studies tested psychosocial interventions in a clinical setting [67][68][69][70][71][72][73][74]. The studies included family-focused parenting interventions or adolescent-focused cognitive behavioral and/or MI-based interventions either with or without a parent component.…”