Experience of Indian families with a child diagnosed with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD)

This study explored and described the parenting experiences of Indian families with children diagnosed to have attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). This study employed narrative interview to explore the experiences of seven families, consisting of seven fathers, seven mothers and seven siblings of children with ADHD, as diagnosed by psychiatrists, and selected from Kerala, India, through the purposive sampling method. After the experiences narrated by the participants had been content analyzed, ten significant themes emerged. The families of ADHD child were found to be experiencing problems related to behaviors of the child and the shame and stigma associated with such problems. The study also explored the various causal attributions and other reasons for the premature termination of treatment of the child. The outcomes of these experiences were the sibling conflicts, strained marital relationship, the persistent negative emotions, and increased defective parenting strategies. The families were also found to be socially withdrawn and secretive of their childrens disorder and treatment from others. Another significant exploration was the lack of adequate information from the professionals. The study proposed four elements socio-cultural values, family culture and values, developmental stages of the child, and causal attribution of families as the contributing factors of the families experiences. These findings were integrated as the essence of the experiences of families having a diagnosed ADHD child. Based on the findings, recommendations for counseling theory and practice, future research and counselor education and policy-making were proposed. A psycho-education program was developed to enhance the parenting skills as well as to improve the parents knowledge of ADHD