The Effectiveness of Mindful Parenting, Social Thinking and Exercise on Quality of Life in ADHD Children

Background Quality of life (QOL), is the most important goal of treatment. The aim of this study was to compare the effectiveness of mindful parenting, social thinking and exercise on quality of life in ADHD children. Materials and Methods: An experimental design was used. Samples consist of 60 students 8-12 years with the DSM-5 classification ADHD that were engaging in education in 2015-2016 in Abadan, Iran. 60 children according to criteria inclusion were randomly placed in 4 groups: mindful parenting (17 mothers of ADHD children), social thinking (n=15), exercise (n=13), and control group (n=15). Measure tools consist of Conner’s Parent Rating Scale (CPRS) and Pediatric quality of life (pedQOL) questionnaire. Interventions were: mindful parenting (9-session), social thinking (8 sessions) and exercise (8 sessions). Results: The results showed significant change in QOL of experimental group compared with the control group (P<0.05). Post-hoc pairwise comparison indicated that there was significant change in QOL scores between mindful parenting group and social thinking group (P<0.05) and mindful parenting had more effect. Difference between social thinking group and exercise group was significant (P<0.05). Conclusion Considering the effective role of mindful parenting and exercise in improving QOL, can be told mindful parenting intervention and exercise can be applied in clinical field, particularly for improving ADHD children's QOL.