Abstract
Objectives: This systematic review examines the literature of psycho-behavioural interventions for individuals diagnosed with AD/HD between 2005 and 2015 in order to answer the following research questions: (1) What are the underlying theoretical perspectives of AD/HD in the intervention design? (2) What are the measures used to assess the various AD/HD interventional approaches? (3) How effective are the identified AD/HD interventions? Method: 18 studies involving approximately 1200 participants met the selection criteria under the psycho-behavioural framework and went through the systematic review procedures. Results: Three approaches to intervention are identified, namely, ability-specific training focusing on enhancing working memory and attention, skills-building intervention aiming at improving organizational and social skills, and, interaction oriented programs targeting at mediating relationships between parents and their children. The interaction-oriented interventions tend to demonstrate the highest efficacy in improving the psycho-behavioural performance of individuals with AD/ HD. Conclusion: Different intervention approaches are founded on different underlying theoretical perspectives of the psycho-behavioural performance in AD/HD. There has been a paradigm shift from the management of dysfunction to the acquisition of functions based on the behavioural management theories and pharmaceutical knowledge-base to those of an ability-specific approach and skill-building approach to interventions for individuals with AD/HD with the dominance of the theory of executive functioning in the last decades. It is speculated that the trend of AD/HD intervention will continue to shift from that of a uni-directional childcentred approach to those of a multi-directional ecological systems perspective. This implication calls for more efforts in developing valid assessment measures to evaluate the new constructs assessing the inter-personal relationships within the AD/HD individual's ecological systems.
Highlights
Attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (AD/HD) is a chronic neuro-developmental disorder which is characterized by inattentiveness, disorganization and/or hyperactive-impulsive© Under License of Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 License behaviors [1, 2]
Adopting a critical appraisal process of systematic review, this study examines the burgeoning literature related to AD/HD intervention studies on the underlying theoretical perspectives of AD/HD along with evidence-based assessment measures evaluating the functioning and behavioral performance of the AD/ HD stakeholders during the period of 2005-2015
4) For those studies which provided the necessary data for the systematic review but did not fulfill the inclusion criteria, such as written in a non-English language or published as conference papers but not academic journals, they were excluded in our systematic review
Summary
Attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (AD/HD) is a chronic neuro-developmental disorder which is characterized by inattentiveness, disorganization and/or hyperactive-impulsive© Under License of Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 License behaviors [1, 2]. The atypical developmental pattern of behavior generally begins during preschool years, persists into adolescence in at least half of all diagnosed and continues into adulthood. It causes significant functional disabilities throughout the lifespan [3] with associated long-term negative consequences related. The pure prevalence rate has been reported as high as 9% of school-age children [7]. Various intervention programs and related assessment measures were developed This has triggered basic research studies targeting this population and various theories attempting to account for the disorders have emerged. Their findings have in turn informed the service providers and subsequently formed various theoretical frameworks for intervention practices
Sign-in/Register to view highlights & summary Sign-in/Register to access full text options 
Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Schedule a call
