ATHENE

The results showed that the blended parent training was not as helpful in reducing behavioural problems as the outpatient training was. In addition, the parents who received the blended parent training stopped taking part in the training sooner and they were less satisfied with the treatment.

Only a small number of children and parents participated in the research study. More research in larger groups would be needed in order to draw any definite conclusions about the effect of blended training.

For clinicians and parents it is important to know that blended parent training possibly works less well than training at an outpatient clinic and that parents can struggle to complete a full blended training course. With this in mind, they can make a more informed decision on whether or not to opt for blended treatment. 

In a parent training, parents learn behavioural skills to deal with their child’s behaviour, such as offering structure, setting clear rules and reinforcing desired behaviours. Parent training is an effective treatment for children with ADHD and usually involves parents attending around twelve appointments at an outpatient clinic. However, not all parents are able to start with a parent training or complete it. This may be because parents experience difficulty to fit such a training into their day-to-day lives. A new form of parent training enables parents to receive the training mainly on the computer. Parents have online contact with a therapist and also have a few appointments at the outpatient clinic. This is known as blended training - a mix of digital support and support through direct contact. 

We studied whether blended parent training is a good alternative to parent training at the outpatient clinic. Participants were 21 children (between 4 and 12 years old) with ADHD and behavioural problems. Parents were randomly assigned to one of the two forms of parent training.