Positive Parenting Program can Change the Psychological State of Mothers Who Have ADHD Children

Attention Deficit Hyperactivity disorder is one of the most prevalent psychological disorders among children which can affect the psychological state of their caregivers. This study aimed to determine the effect of positive parenting program (by Sanders) on psychological state of mothers who had children with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder. The current study was quasi-experimental with experimental and control groups with pre-test and post-test. Samples had been chosen with convenient sampling from mothers who had children with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder referring to 5 private and governmental psychiatric clinics in Tehran, capital city of Iran. Attention deficit hyperactivity disorder in children was detected by The Revised Conners' Parent Rating Scale (CPRS-R) and confirmed interview by a psychiatrist. Then psychological state (depression, anxiety, and stress level) of 196 mothers had been investigated with DASS-21and 54 of them were chosen according to higher levels of depression, anxiety and stress. They had been divided into experimental (n=28) and control (n=26) groups. Then, the experimental group received Triple-p training for 8 weekly sessions (Jan 2015 to March 2015) each lasted 120 minutes. Finally, 23 mothers of experimental and 20 mothers of control groups were re-tested in March 2015. Data obtained from this study were analyzed using independent samples T-test. The results indicated significantly lower levels of depression (p<0.001), anxiety, and stress (p<0.05) in the post test of experimental group and no significant change of control group. The results of this research suggest that positive parenting program can effectively lead to prevention or decline secondary problems such as depression and anxiety disorders in mothers who have children with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, which was in line with previous studies. Keywords: Parenting; Attention Deficit Disorder with Hyperactivity; Depression; Anxiety; Stress; Psychological.