Introduction
Despite offering extremely detailed insights into treatments and statistical procedures, scholarly articles often inspire curiosity and further questions from the audience. Herman Hay Ming Lo’s ADHD-related work is of interest to me, especially his contributions to developing mindfulness-based family therapies. This response will further identify the researcher and detail questions that I would ask during our hypothetical conversation.
Main body
Herman Hay Ming Lo is listed as the primary researcher in the randomized study by Lo et al. (2020) on family-based mindfulness treatments’ outcomes for ADHD severity in pediatric clients and the effects on parents, including overall mental well-being and stress levels associated with parenting. Mr. Lo is a Chinese researcher affiliated with the Hong Kong Polytechnic University (n.d.), one of Asia’s renowned multidisciplinary institutions to offers technical, health, and humanities education. The researcher’s credentials and qualifications suggest his trustworthiness and excellent expertise in the field. Specifically, he is a registered social worker in Hong Kong, has a Ph.D. degree, has been developing, exploring, and teaching mindfulness-based interventions in social work for over fifteen years, and is currently affiliated with two high-ranking psychology/social work journals as an editorial board member (Hong Kong Polytechnic University, n.d.). Considering this background, I would treat the idea of interviewing Mr. Lo with enthusiasm.
Regarding the questions, I would like to clarify the extent to which ADHD differs from other conditions in social work and family therapy contexts. The article’s contents, especially the introductory section, argue that raising an individual with ADHD is a stress-inducing event per se, which might require promoting “calm and consistent discipline and emotional responsiveness in parenting” (Lo et al., 2020, p. 667). With that in mind, I would ask Mr. Lo whether he agrees that ADHD is different from other common childhood conditions that social workers may encounter, such as uncontrolled aggression, parental divorce-related trauma, or emotional issues, in terms of the need for parental engagement and family therapy.
Next, I would invite Mr. Lo to discuss culture-specific factors and any unintended consequences of mindfulness-based approaches. The article in question cites ADHD’s prevalence in Hong Kong and uses symptom checker tools approved for the Chinese population (Lo et al., 2020). To start with, I would ask Mr. Lo to characterize ADHD manifestations peculiar to the Chinese population and reflect on whether the success of the family-based mindfulness therapy approach would be different in non-Asian contexts, such as the U.S. In the literature review section, mindfulness is mentioned as a promising improvement-inducing technique for ADHD in both parents and children, which is consistent with the authors’ results (Lo et al., 2020). Considering Mr. Lo’s tremendous experience with implementing mindfulness-based therapies, I would ask him to reflect on this positive description and assess if there are any circumstances, for instance, clients’ characteristics, unfavorable parent-child communication dynamics, or practitioners’ misconceptions, under which such therapies can harm children with ADHD. Finally, I would ask whether mindfulness practices can ever make parents less responsive to children’s suffering in ADHD cases by promoting non-judgmental perception.
Conclusion
In summary, I would learn more about the 2020 study’s implications for practice and the used approach’s limitations that must be considered to maximize positive impacts for families. My questions would revolve around the intervention’s possible applications outside of China and ADHD’s unique features the study revealed. The contexts in which family-based mindfulness therapy for ADHD might be ineffective or harmful would also be clarified.
References
Hong Kong Polytechnic University. (n.d.). Academic staff: Dr. Herman Lo. Web.
Lo, H. H. M., Wong, S. W., Wong, J. Y., Yeung, J. W., Snel, E., & Wong, S. Y. (2020). The effects of family-based mindfulness intervention on ADHD symptomology in young children and their parents: A randomized control trial. Journal of Attention Disorders, 24(5), 667-680. Web.
Magnus, W., Nazir, S., Anilkumar, A. C., & Shaban, K. (2022). Attention deficit hyperactivity disorder. In StatPearls. StatPearls Publishing. Web.
Montejo, J. E., Durán, M., Del Mar Martínez, M., Hilari, A., Roncalli, N., Vilaregut, A., Corrales, M., Nogueira, M., Casas, M., Linares, J. L., & Ramos-Quiroga, J. A. (2019). Family functioning and parental bonding during childhood in adults diagnosed with ADHD. Journal of Attention Disorders, 23(1), 57–64. Web.
Sibley, M. H., & LaCount, P. A. (2021). Enhancing engagement and motivation with adolescents with ADHD and their parents. In J. L. Allen, D. J. Hawes, & C. A. Essau (Eds.), Family-based intervention for child and adolescent mental health: A core competencies approach (pp. 136-152). Cambridge University Press. Web.
Sibley, M. H., Rodriguez, L., Coxe, S., Page, T., & Espinal, K. (2020). Parent–teen group versus dyadic treatment for adolescent ADHD: What works for whom?Journal of Clinical Child & Adolescent Psychology, 49(4), 476-492. Web.
Slobodin, O., & Masalha, R. (2020). Challenges in ADHD care for ethnic minority children: A review of the current literature. Transcultural Psychiatry, 57(3), 468-483. Web.
Yang, K. G., Flores, M. W., Carson, N. J., & Cook, B. L. (2022). Racial and ethnic disparities in childhood ADHD treatment access and utilization: Results from a national study. Psychiatric Services, 73(12), 1338-1345. Web.