Parents' Experiences of Raising 7- to 11-Year-Old Children With ADHD and Perception of a Proposed Parenting Program: A Qualitative Study.

OBJECTIVE

To examine the experiences of Australian parents raising primary school-aged children with ADHD and gather feedback on a proposed ADHD parenting program.

METHODS

Reflexive thematic analysis of semi-structured interviews undertaken with 11 Australian parents of 7- to 11-year-old children with ADHD. Interviews were conducted over Webex, audio recorded, transcribed verbatim, and analyzed in NVivo Ltd. software.

RESULTS

We identified four themes: (1) "I love my child but their ADHD traits are challenging," (2) "Compliance, control, and completion," (3) "It's hard, burdensome, and exhausting and I can feel like I'm alone," and (4) "What a welcome relief."

CONCLUSION

Parents report that although raising neurotypical children is difficult, the presence of childhood ADHD increases the emotional and support burden placed on them. Parents were also very interested in and supportive of the proposed ADHD parenting program. The program aims to enhance parents' understanding of the neurocognitive implications of ADHD and to foster secure parent-child attachment, attuned parental responsiveness, and age-appropriate development of traits that promote well-being, adaption and recovery in people with ADHD.).