Acceptability of behavioral and pharmacological treatments for attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder: Relations to child and parent characteristics

One-hundred nine mothers of 5- to 12-year-old boys with attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) participated. Mothers read case descriptions of boys with ADHD and of boys with both ADHD and oppositional defiant disorder (ODD). Half of the mothers were randomly assigned to read descriptions of behavioral parent training and half to read descriptions of stimulant medication as treatments for the children in the case descriptions. Mothers rated the acceptability and effectiveness of the treatments and provided information on their experiences with both types of treatment. Mothers rated behavioral parent training as more acceptable than medication. There was no difference in ratings of the effectiveness of the two treatments in the scenarios, and mothers rated medication as more effective than behavioral strategies with their own children. Comorbidity of ADHD and ODD did not influence ratings of acceptability or effectiveness. Mothers' ratings of the acceptability of behavioral parent training were related to how much they believed in these strategies and how effective the strategies were with their own children. Although mothers' ratings of the acceptability of medication were related to their beliefs in this form of treatment, they were not related to perceptions of effectiveness of medication for their own child. Implications for understanding the difficulties faced by parents of children with ADHD in treatment decision-making are presented.