The Effect of Education on Sense of Competence of Mothers of Children with Hyperactivity Disorder

Attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) is one of the most common psychiatric disorders among children. Three to five percent of children suffer from this disorder. The behavioral problems of children with ADHD affect the sense of competence of mothers. Sense of competence is an important factor to perceive the parent role and satisfaction of parent role to support the child and establishing good order and discipline. The present study aimed to examine the effect of education on sense of competence of the mothers of the children with ADHD.
This semi-experimental study was conducted in Tehran in 2015. The study population was 100 literate mothers of children with ADHD. The mean age of the children was 7-11 years. The study methodology is convenience and random sampling method of clinical centers. Then, using the random method, it was shown which center was control and which center was experimental group. Children were selected from two educational medical centers of Tehran Psychiatric Institute (experimental group, n = 50) and Ali Asghar Medical Center (control group, n = 50). Data were collected using demographic questionnaire and the questionnaire of Parenting Sense of Competence. This program was held during 8 sessions (60 min, one session per week) for the experiment groups (groups of 5-12 mothers). The control groups received no intervention. Three months after the completion of the questionnaires, pre-test, and post-test were performed for the control groups. One month after the last session, post-test was performed by the completion of questionnaires in the experiment groups. The data were analyzed using SPSS 22 software.
The mean values of sense of competence of mothers were compared before and after the intervention. The result of independent t-test showed that there was no significant difference between the score of sense of competence after the intervention in two groups. Thus, two groups are homogenous in terms of the sense of competence after the intervention (P = 0.256). There was no significant difference in other items.
There was no significant difference in the sense of competence of mothers after the intervention and this sense can be affected by different factors Also, short-term training cannot have a significant effect on it. Further studies are suggested to perform regarding the sense of competence and the effect of other educational approaches on this sense.