Assessing the Efficacy of a Five-Week Summer Treatment Program for Children with ADHD

David Haschak

Defense Date

6-19-2008

Graduation Date

Summer 1-1-2008

Availability

Campus Only

Submission Type

dissertation

Degree Name

EdD

Department

Counselor Education and Supervision (ExCES)

School

School of Education

Committee Chair

David Delmonico

Committee Member

William Casile

Committee Member

Paul Niemiec

Keywords

ADHD, Summer, Treatment, Parents

Abstract

The primary purpose of this study was to evaluate the effectiveness of a modified five week Summer Treatment Program (STP-M) designed to treat children diagnosed with Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder, based on the perceptions of caregivers. The STP-M was designed as an abbreviated version of the Summer Treatment Program developed by Pelham, Greiner, and Gnagy (1998). A secondary goal of this study was to determine if children responded differently to the treatment provided in the STP-M based on their age or gender. The study employed a repeated measures design with the Conners' Global Index-Parent Version (CGI-P) serving as the dependent variable. The CGI-P was distributed as a pre-test and post-test to parents of children in an experimental (n=33) and a control group (n=33). A repeated measures analysis of variance was performed to assess overall program effectiveness, and two-way analyses of variance were performed to assess for any interaction effects between the age and gender of the participant and the treatment provided in the STP-M. Results indicated that based on the perceptions of the caregivers of participants and scores on the CGI-P, children did show significant improvement over the five-week study period. However, the same rate of improvement was detected in both the experimental and control groups. The results indicated that the reduction in ADHD symptoms perceived by the caregivers can not be attributed to the STP-M. The Two-Way Analysis of Variance calculations also revealed no significant interaction between age or gender and the treatment provided in the STP-M. Further study is indicated to compare the findings of this study, with observational data collected as part of the STP-M. Future studies should also explore the possible reasons for the improvement seen across both the experimental and control groups.

Format

PDF

Language

English

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