A 4-week online mindful parenting program (4 × 90-min weekly Zoom sessions plus 5-min daily home practice and 4 daily LINE app reminders) vs. standard medical care alone in 98 Thai parents of children aged 6–12 with ADHD, measured at post-intervention and 2-month follow-up.
The intervention significantly reduced parenting stress vs. controls at post-intervention (d = 0.85, p < 0.001) and 2-month follow-up (d = 0.73, p < 0.001); parent-reported child inattention (d = 0.57, p = 0.01) and hyperactivity (d = 0.47, p = 0.02) improved at post-intervention but not significantly at 2-month follow-up; no significant between-group differences were found for ODD symptoms or general mindfulness (PHLMS) at either time point.
All outcomes were self-reported by unblinded parents, introducing expectancy and demand bias—particularly for child symptom ratings, which may partly reflect changed parental perception rather than true behavioral change. The sample was highly educated (93% with bachelor's degree or higher), predominantly mothers (≈94%), and Buddhist (≈93%), limiting generalizability. The single highly experienced facilitator and the absence of an active control group prevent isolation of mindfulness-specific effects from non-specific group factors.
A brief 4-week online mindful parenting program combined with daily mobile reminders is highly feasible (96% attended ≥3 sessions) and can meaningfully reduce parenting stress in families managing ADHD, making it a practical add-on to standard care. Clinicians should note that improvements in parent-reported child ADHD symptoms were short-lived and based on unblinded parent report, so objective multi-informant measures are needed before drawing firm conclusions about child behavioral change.
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