Date of Award
2006
Document Type
Dissertation
Degree Name
Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)
Department
Psychology
Abstract
Psychological assessments are a cornerstone of clinical practice inPsychology, but if results and recommendations are not used to guide treatment interventions, their value is greatly diminished. Currently, there is very little research that examines adherence to treatment recommendations given to parents or caregivers following psychological evaluations of their children. The present study expands on previous research (MacNaughton & Rodrigue, 2001) examining perceived barriers to parental compliance with psychological assessment recommendations by considering the impact of severity of child behavior problems and parenting stress on compliance. Eighty caregiver/child dyads were recruited through an ADHD evaluation clinic and caregivers completed a telephone interview approximately 4 to 6 weeks after receiving recommendations for their children's care. It was predicted that parents/caregivers reporting greater levels of stress would report lower levels of compliance; parents/caregivers reporting greater levels of compliance would report greater improvement in children's behavior; parents/caregivers would report compliance to less than 70% of the recommendations (MacNaughton & Rodrigue, 2001) and the recommendation to which parents/caregivers most commonly adhered would be that of consulting with a non-psychological professional (i.e., physician). Results revealed that caregivers reporting greater levels of parenting stress were more likely to report following recommendations, that greater levels of compliance were associated with greater levels of improvement, that caregivers reported adherence to 81.5% of recommendations, and that caregivers were equally likely to engage in active self-help recommendations (i.e., parentEducation on ADHD) and those for professional-nonpsychological services (i.e. consulting with a physician for medication) and least likely to follow through on recommendations for psychological services (child or family counseling). The most commonly reported barriers to following recommendations were (1) that caregivers had not had time to comply and (2) that teachers were uncooperative with implementing school-based recommendations.
Recommended Citation
Thibodeau, Alice Samantha, "Parental Compliance To Clinical Recommendations In An Adhd Clinic" (2006). All-Inclusive List of Electronic Theses and Dissertations. 1029.
https://scholars.indianastate.edu/etds/1029