Parents’ Adaptive Tasks and Coping Skills with Stimulant Titration and Shared Decision-Making Process Within the Context of a Child Living with an ADHD Diagnosis

Abstract

This study aimed to understand how parents’ experience of titration contributes to the adaptive tasks and coping skills associated with their child’s Attention Deficit/ Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) diagnoses. The primary research question asks: How does participation in the stimulant titration and Shared Decision-Making (SDM) process help parents create adaptive tasks and coping skills? The participants included 4 parents who have undergone the titration and SDM process as a part of treatment that addresses their child’s ADHD diagnosis. Analysis was conducted via an adapted grounded theory approach and resulted in 11 themes related to the core emergent theme of titration. Themes that were representative of the titration experience were related to the participant’s source of stress, cognitive appraisal of the ADHD diagnosis, adaptive tasks, coping skills, outcomes, and suggested improvements. The results have important implications for improving the titration process. The results also emphasize how titration has promoted adaptive tasks and coping skills which assisted participants to feel more in control and create a new sense of normalcy regarding their child’s ADHD diagnosis.