The primary goal of the proposed project is to test the feasibility of parent and teacher/childcare providers use of the ADHD web portal-integrated behavioral treatment modules with preschool children with ADHD in order to improve the access to and the integrity of evidence-based behavioral treatment strategies for young children with ADHD.
Although behavioral interventions are the recommended first-line treatment for preschool children with Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD), the majority of preschool children receiving treatment for ADHD are treated with medication only. Barriers to preschool children receiving behavioral treatments include financial limitations, family logistical challenges, and the paucity of trained providers. Web-based approaches may be one innovative way to address these obstacles. Thus, the goal of the proposed study is to pilot-test an on-line behavioral intervention that has been integrated into the evidence-based mehealth for ADHD software (mehealth.com) to determine feasibility, acceptability, and preliminary efficacy. The investigators will enroll a community-based sample of caregivers and teachers/childcare providers of 20 preschool children with ADHD recruited from two DBPNet sites (Cincinnati and Boston) who will utilize the on-line behavioral tools to create and implement child behavior plans. The investigators will track system usage over a 9-month period to determine feasibility for mehealth's integrated behavioral tools intervention. Standardized measures and open-ended questions will be used to determine the intervention's acceptability to parents and teachers/childcare providers. In addition, parent and teacher/childcare providers ratings of child ADHD symptoms and impairment collected at baseline and at the 3-month, 6-month, and 9-month time points will be examined to provide preliminary estimates of efficacy. Ultimately, development of the mehealth for ADHD.com integrated behavioral tools may provide a cost-effective and convenient means of implementing behavioral plans for young children, thereby increasing access to behavioral treatments for preschoolers with ADHD. This scalable and disseminatable approach has great potential for use not only in clinical settings, but also in national Developmental-Behavioral Pediatrics Research Network multi-site research studies which require standardized behavioral intervention packages for preschool ADHD.
Study Type
INTERVENTIONAL
Allocation
NA
Purpose
TREATMENT
Masking
NONE
Enrollment
31
Integrated functionality within the mehealth for ADHD software allows parents and teachers/childcare providers to set up and deliver behavioral interventions such as daily report card systems and home-based program such as star charts. Automated wizards lead parents and teachers through the process of selecting target behaviors and setting up reward schedules. Baseline data is gathered online and algorithms derive a set of behavioral goals for the child. Thereafter, parents or teachers record the child's performance directly into the software. Once behavioral monitoring begins, parents and teachers receive daily email or text communications from mehealth for ADHD alerting them to the daily rewards earned by their child. Finally, online algorithms exist that detect how a child is doing in meeting behavioral goals and prompt users to modify goals accordingly.
Cincinnati Children's Hospital Medical Center
Cincinnati, Ohio, United States
% of days using mehealth behavior tracking system
Feasibility will be assessed by tracking system usage, including % of days when parents/teachers/childcare providers entered behavioral tracking data (to determine if data was entered for \>85% of days) and % of days when earned rewards were administered (to determine if administration occurred for \>85% of days).
Time frame: 9 months
Acceptability with on-line behavioral treatment assessed by the System Usability Scale
System Usability Scale contains ten items rated on a Likert scale. \- SUS contains ten items rated on a Likert scale. Acceptability with on-line behavioral treatment assessed by the Intervention Acceptability Questionnaire (IAQ). \- The IAQ contains 3 open-ended questions regarding satisfaction with the on-line behavioral treatment program.
Time frame: 9 months
Acceptability with on-line behavioral treatment assessed by the Intervention Acceptability Questionnaire
The Intervention Acceptability Questionnaire contains 3 open-ended questions regarding satisfaction with the on-line behavioral treatment program
Time frame: 9 months
ADHD Rating Scale-IV-Preschool Version
Descriptive statistics from parent-rated ADHD Rating Scale-IV-Preschool Version total symptom scores will be reported across time points. Please note that the word "ADHD" is not used as an abbreviation in "ADHD Rating Scale - IV - Preschool Version," that is the official name of the scale.
Time frame: 9 months
Impairment Rating Scale
Descriptive statistics from parent-rated Impairment Rating Scale total symptom scores will be reported across time points
Time frame: 9 months
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