The Effectiveness of Mindfulness and Modification Therapy on Impulsivity and Risk-Taking Behaviors in Adolescents with Attention Deficit-Hyperactivity Disorder

Despite interventions designed to reduce symptoms of Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD), no effective treatments have been identified that effectively decrease impulsivity and risk-taking behaviors. In this regard, this study aimed to determine the effectiveness of a mindfulness-based intervention that has recently been introduced to improve impulsivity and risk-taking behaviors in adolescents with ADHD.

The present research was a single-subject experimental study with multiple baselines and follow-up. The study sample consisted of four adolescents with ADHD in the age range of 15 to 18 years who had been randomly selected from a clinical center in Rasht in 2020-2021. To measure the research variables, the Barratt Impulsivity Scale (Patton et al., 1995) and the Iranian Adolescents Risk-taking Scale (Zadeh Mohammadi et al., 2011) were used. The mindfulness and modification treatment (MMT) was implemented in 12 weekly 45-minute sessions, each of which included a 3 to 16-minute mindfulness exercise and a review of previous homework and presentation of new homework. The effect size, reliable change, and percentage of non-overlapping data were used to assess statistical significance; improvement percentage was used to assess clinical significance.

The findings showed that according to three indices of reliable change, effect size, and percentage of non-overlapping data, the effectiveness of this intervention in reducing impulsivity and risk-taking behaviors was statistically significant, but the improvement percentage index could not show its clinical significance.

According to the findings, it can be concluded that MMT by affecting awareness of present experience and strengthening emotion regulation can reduce impulsivity and risk-taking behaviors.