(PS11-B37) The Effects of Parent Involvement as a Predictor to Treatment Outcomes at Camp Baker: An Adapted Summer Treatment Program

Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) is one of the most common childhood-onset neurodevelopmental disorders, with global prevalence between 3% and 7% (Sayal et al., 2018). Children with attention and impulsive control challenges typically have lower self-esteem, increased anxiety and social difficulties and an overall poorer quality of life as compared to their neurotypical counterparts (Peasgood et al., 2016). Therefore, timely and effective treatments are necessary to reduce and potentially eliminate the negative psychosocial effects of ADHD in children.

The most well-established evidence-based treatments for children with ADHD include summer camp-based reinforcement interventions (Evans et al., 2018) such as the Summer Treatment Program (STP), an intensive summer camp-based intervention for children ages 6 to 12 with a primary diagnosis of ADHD (Pelham & Hoza, 2004). The STP relies heavily on counselors and parents to consistently implement behavioral strategies in the child’s natural environment to make effective progress. Treatment goals for the STP include increased pro-social behavior, compliance, self-esteem, and readiness for the upcoming school year. Camp Baker, an adapted Summer Treatment Program located in Boston, MA, will run for 6 weeks in the summer of 2022.

The primary aim of this poster is to examine parent involvement as a predictor of treatment outcomes at Camp Baker. Participants include 62 children (mean age = 9.05, SD=1.97; 86% male) who are enrolled to attend Camp Baker for summer 2022 for six weeks. Counselors implementing the intervention will be undergraduate and graduate students in psychology who will participate in a week-long didactic training, receive weekly individual and group supervision and will be monitored for treatment fidelity on a weekly basis.

To ensure treatment progress generalizes to the home environment, parents are strongly encouraged to attend weekly didactic trainings on behavioral strategies to implement at home. Parent involvement will be assessed across two measures: 1) rate of attendance at weekly trainings, and 2) responses on weekly surveys administered to parents regarding the frequency in which parents were able to implement behavioral strategies in the previous week, how effective they believed the strategy to be in managing their child’s behavior, and what barriers, if any, prevented them from implementing the strategy. To assess treatment outcomes, parents will complete pre- and post-treatment measures including the Conners Parent Rating Scale (Conners, et al., 1998), the Child Behavior Checklist (Achenbach & Rescorla, 2001) and the Parent Stress Index (Abidin, 1995). Additionally, parents will complete the Brief Problem Monitor (Achenbach et al., 2011) weekly to monitor treatment progress and again at 3 months follow-up. The primary hypothesis is that higher levels of parent involvement in STP will predict greater reductions in disruptive behavior and increased pro-social behavior at post-treatment and follow-up.