Treatment Compliance and Parents' Characteristics in Children with Attention-Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder : Pilot Study

Kim, Joon; Lim, Hyun Kook; Jeong, Jong Hyun; Hong, Seung Chul; Han, Jin Hee; Lee, Sung Pil; Seo, Ho Jun

Abstract

OBJECTIVES
This study was conducted to compare characteristics of parents of attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) children in relationship to treatment compliance.
METHODS
A total of 271 school-aged children diagnosed with ADHD were devided into two groups by treatment duration; early dropout group (n=117, treatments discontinued within three months) and continuous treatment groups (n=154, treatments continued for more than three months). Scores on the Korean Personality Inventory for Children (KPI-C), Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory (MMPI), Korean Parenting Sense of Competence (K-PSOC), Korean Parenting Stress Index-Short Form (K-PSI-SF), and Parental Acceptance Rejection Questionnaire (PARQ) were compared between two groups.
RESULTS
According to the results of the KPI-C, parents of the early dropout group showed a higher tendency to regard their children's symptoms as 'somatization' and 'delinquency', compared with those of continuous treatment groups (49.9 vs. 46.3 and 60.9 vs. 58.2, p=0.048 and 0.046, respectively). Parents in the early dropout group showed higher scores on hypochondriasis and psychasthenia subscales in MMPI (54.7 vs. 52.1 and 51.5 vs. 48.5, p=0.024, and 0.017, respectively). The results of the K-PSOC showed that parents in the early dropout group perceived a lower sense of parenting competence (27.3 vs. 58.6, p=0.047).
CONCLUSION
Our findings suggested that characteristics of the parents and their perspectives regarding children's symptoms could be possible factors associated with treatment compliance in ADHD. Further researches on this issue may provide opportunities to improve treatment compliance for children with ADHD.