A randomised controlled trial (MindChamp) of a mindfulness‐based intervention for children with ADHD and their parents

Background Family mindfulness‐based intervention (MBI) for child attention‐deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) targets child self‐control, parenting and parental mental health, but its effectiveness is still unclear. Methods MindChamp is a pre‐registered randomised controlled trial comparing an 8‐week family MBI (called ‘MYmind’) in addition to care‐as‐usual (CAU) (n = 55) with CAU‐only (n = 48). Children aged 8–16 years with remaining ADHD symptoms after CAU were enrolled together with a parent. Primary outcome was post‐treatment parent‐rated child self‐control deficits (BRIEF); post hoc, Reliable Change Indexes were explored. Secondary child outcomes included ADHD symptoms (parent/teacher‐rated Conners’ and SWAN; teacher‐rated BRIEF), other psychological symptoms (parent/teacher‐rated), well‐being (parent‐rated) and mindfulness (self‐rated). Secondary parent outcomes included self‐ratings of ADHD symptoms, other psychological symptoms, well‐being, self‐compassion and mindful parenting. Assessments were conducted at post‐treatment, 2‐ and 6‐month follow‐up. Results Relative to CAU‐only, MBI+CAU resulted in a small, statistically non‐significant post‐treatment improvement on the BRIEF (intention‐to‐treat: d = 0.27, p = .18; per protocol: d = 0.33, p = .11). Significantly more children showed reliable post‐treatment improvement following MBI+CAU versus CAU‐only (32% versus 11%, p