Parenting stress and parents' willingness to accept treatment in relation to behavioral problems of children with attention-deficit hyperactive disorder.

Abstract

The purpose of this research was to explore parenting stress and parents' willingness to accept treatment in relation to the behavioral problems of children with Attention-Deficit Hyperactive Disorder (ADHD). A total of 100 subjects, either fathers or mothers of children with ADHD, were recruited by convenience sampling from southern Taiwan. The results of this research were: (1) the standardized score for parents' perception of the behavioral problems of their ADHD children was 67.09. (2) The standardized score for parents perception of parenting stress was 62.00. (3) The parents who were most willing to accept treatment were those in the parent training group. (4) The behavioral problems of ADHD children were significantly related to parenting stress (p .001). (5) ADHD children's behavioral problems and parental self-awareness of psychological and emotional problems were the two variables most influential on parenting stress, and recognition of the pathological cause was the most influential factor in willingness to accept treatment. Through this research we also found that the parents hoped that a parent training group would be established. Therefore, nursing personnel can try to develop parent training groups in order to relieve parents' parenting stress.