Effectiveness of Mindfulness training compared to Emotion Regulation on the compatibility of students with ADHD

Aim: The study aim was to determine effectiveness of Mindfulness training and Emotion Regulation on the adjustment of ADHD students. Method was quasi-experimental with control group, pretest, posttest, and one-month follow-up. Statistical population consisted of 341 male students who were referred to the counseling center of Education Administration of Eslamshahr town in 2017-2018. Of these, 45 students aged 14 to 16 with the highest scores in Connors, Erhardt and Sparrow Scale of Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (1999) and the lowest scores in the Adjustment Scale of Sinha and Singh's 1993, were selected and assigned randomly to either an experimental or a control group. Kabat-Zinn’s (1992) Mindfulness training and Emotion Regulation of Alan, McHugh and Barlow (2009) were conducted on the experimental groups (90 minutes once a week for 8 weeks). Results indicated that Mindfulness (F=8.89, P=0.006) and Emotion Regulation training (F=12.54, P=0.001) were effective on improving adjustment, and Emotion Regulation (F=16.59, P=0.001) could reduce symptoms of attention deficit/ hyperactivity disorder and that these effects remained stable in the follow-up phase. Since the training of emotional regulation is directly influencing the interaction of the individual with his peers as well as the community and on the other hand it seems that emotional regulation may consist of certain components of Mindfulness as well, compared to the latter, Emotion Regulation may be considered as a more effective treatment to improve the level of compatibility and reduce the symptoms of attention deficit/hyperactivity of students.