Cognitive Behavioral Therapy for Adolescents With Attention-Deficit / Hyperactivity Disorder
Status:
Unknown status
Trial end date:
2020-10-01
Target enrollment:
Participant gender:
Summary
Attention Deficit/ Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) is a common childhood psychiatric condition,
which often persists into adolescence. In adolescence ADHD is associated with poor academic,
social, and emotional functioning, other psychiatric problems, substance abuse, and
antisocial behaviour. Although medication effectively reduces symptoms such as hyperactivity
and inattention, it does not directly address academic, social, emotional, and behavioural
problems. Overcoming these would require building skills in organization, time management,
problem solving, emotional modulation, stress management and interpersonal rapport. Yet,
psychosocial treatments targeting such skills in adolescents with ADHD have been little
studied and are scarce in the community. The proposed study will evaluate cognitive
behavioural and skills training therapy (CBT+S) for adolescents with ADHD. Adolescents will
decide whether they want to take medication to treat their ADHD symptoms. If they choose to
be on medication, they will be stabilized on optimized medication and randomly assigned to 12
sessions of either manualized group cognitive behavioral and skills training therapy (CBT+S)
or manualized supportive group therapy (SGT). An additional treatment-as-usual group will
also be included. CBT+S will focus on skill acquisition in common problem areas for
adolescents with ADHD, such as organization and time management, distractibility,
impulsivity, and social skills. A coach will call each participant twice a week to help
practice the learned skills.
Parallel groups will be provided for parents of CBT+S and SGT participants focusing on
education, support and sharing experiences. If CBT+S proves to benefit adolescents with ADHD,
it can be made widely available to these adolescents in the community. This would help them
improve their academic, social, and emotional functioning and ultimately their long term
outcomes.
Phase:
Phase 4
Details
Lead Sponsor:
McGill University Health Center McGill University Health Centre/Research Institute of the McGill University Health Centre