title: Cognitive behavioral therapy for adults with attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder: study protocol for a randomized controlled trial.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) is a mental disorder beginning in childhood, and about half of patients have symptoms lasting into adulthood. Adult ADHD causes various impairments of emotional, self-esteem, and executive function and life quality aspects. Furthermore, adverse outcomes include academic and occupational failures, traffic accidents and substance abuse, which would be a family and social burden. A combination of medication and psychotherapy is recommended as the treatment for adult ADHD, and cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) has been validated mostly with evidence-based researches. However, there has been a lack of randomized controlled trials of CBT for patients in China. Moreover, booster sessions of CBT for other disorders have proven effective in reducing recurrence and improving long-term outcomes, which has not been investigated for adult ADHD. This study will testify to the effect of CBT and explore the efficacy of subsequent booster sessions on adult ADHD.
  
  
  METHODS
  It is a three-armed randomized controlled trial to evaluate the efficacy of 12 weeks of CBT based on the published and validated manual and its booster sessions. The 12 weeks of CBT will be conducted weekly and will end at the 12th week, and then the booster sessions will be conducted monthly and end at the 24th week. There are three randomized groups, including a CBT with booster sessions group, a CBT group and a waiting group. Participants are outpatients of the Peking University Sixth Hospital who are diagnosed as having adult ADHD. The Primary efficacy endpoints are the scores of ADHD core symptoms at 12 and 24 weeks. Secondary endpoints include emotion, executive function, self-esteem, life quality and functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) data at different time points, and the change within every group will also be analyzed.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  This is the first study to explore the efficacy of booster sessions of CBT in adult ADHD as far as we know. The results might increase proof of efficacy of CBT for adult ADHD in China, and the results showing efficacy of the booster sessions would also benefit our clinical practice.
  
  
  BACKGROUND
  Current Controlled Trials: NCT02062411, date of registration: 12 February 2014.
authors: Peking University Sixth Hospital/Institute of Mental Health, National Clinical Research Center for Mental Disorders (Peking University Sixth Hospital), No. 51, Hua Yuan Bei Lu, Haidian District, Beijing, 100191, China. huangfang009@163.com.|Key Laboratory of Mental Health, Ministry of Health, Peking University, No. 51, Hua Yuan Bei Lu, Haidian District, Beijing, 100191, China. huangfang009@163.com.
authors: Fang
authors: F
authors: Huang
authors: Peking University Sixth Hospital/Institute of Mental Health, National Clinical Research Center for Mental Disorders (Peking University Sixth Hospital), No. 51, Hua Yuan Bei Lu, Haidian District, Beijing, 100191, China. qianqiujin@bjmu.edu.cn.|Key Laboratory of Mental Health, Ministry of Health, Peking University, No. 51, Hua Yuan Bei Lu, Haidian District, Beijing, 100191, China. qianqiujin@bjmu.edu.cn.
authors: Qiujin
authors: Q
authors: Qian
authors: Peking University Sixth Hospital/Institute of Mental Health, National Clinical Research Center for Mental Disorders (Peking University Sixth Hospital), No. 51, Hua Yuan Bei Lu, Haidian District, Beijing, 100191, China. wangyf@bjmu.edu.cn.|Key Laboratory of Mental Health, Ministry of Health, Peking University, No. 51, Hua Yuan Bei Lu, Haidian District, Beijing, 100191, China. wangyf@bjmu.edu.cn.
authors: Yufeng
authors: Y
authors: Wang
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000367:Age Factors; D001289:Attention Deficit Disorder with Hyperactivity / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000503:physiopathology / Q000523:psychology / Q000628:therapy*; D001921:Brain / Q000503:physiopathology; D002681:China; D002985:Clinical Protocols; D015928:Cognitive Behavioral Therapy; D004644:Emotions; D056344:Executive Function; D006785:Hospitals, University; D006801:Humans; D008279:Magnetic Resonance Imaging; D011788:Quality of Life; D012107:Research Design; D012649:Self Concept; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D013997:Time Factors; D016896:Treatment Outcome