A meta-analysis of combined treatments for children diagnosed with ADHD

Abstract

Objective: Meta-analytic procedures are used to review the literature of combined treatments of psychosocial and pharmacological treatments for children diagnosed with ADHD.

Method: Eight combined treatment studies meet specific inclusion and exclusion criteria regarding the core and peripheral features of the disorder.

Results: The results of this study highlight the individual and average effect sizes within the categories of inattention, hyperactivity, impulsivity, social skills, and academics. These findings are compared with the effect sizes of meta-analytic findings previously reported in the pharmacological literature.

Conclusion: The results reveal large effect sizes for the core features of the disorder and the peripheral feature of social skills. A small effect size is found for the peripheral feature of academics. Findings are discussed in light of the paucity of included studies focused on combined treatments for ADHD.