An online seminar entitled “Questions and Answers on ADHD and Multiple family Group” was jointly organised by the Family and Group Practice Research Centre of the Department of Social Work, The Chinese University of Hong Kong (CUHK), and the Hong Kong Association for AD/HD on 24 October 2020. Professor Joyce Ma Lai-chong, Department of Social Work, and Professor Angela Siu Fung-ying, Department of Educational Psychology, CUHK, were the two speakers at the seminar. It aimed to provide parents and caregivers of children with ADHD with the latest research findings on the growth of children with ADHD, and their families. Parents’ concerns and critical issues were addressed during the seminar.
In order to effectively disseminate the latest research results to the public, the research team of the Family and Group Practice Research Centre, with the support of CUHK’s Knowledge Transfer Fund and the Social Innovation Fund, has produced three short videos on children with ADHD and their families. The videos were first released to give parents knowledge about the growth and development of children with ADHD. The first video, “The Voice of Children with ADHD”, narrated the children’s subjective experience of the disorder and stimulant medication. The second video, “Importance of Parent-child Relationship to children with ADHD”, highlighted the importance of a father’s role in the growth and development of children with ADHD. The quality time that the fathers spend with their children and the support they provide to their spouse could alleviate the mothers’ parenting stress, which in turn would be beneficial to the children and the whole family. The third video, “Providing Families with Ways of Raising Children with ADHD”, reported the treatment efficacy of a multiple family group (MFG) in helping families of children with ADHD. MFG is a family based intervention aiming to assist families of children with ADHD to utilise their family resources as well as the resources of other families which are facing similar developmental challenges in raising children with ADHD.
Funded by Save the Children Hong Kong, The Hong Kong Association for AD/HD is holding a number of seminars on children with ADHD for service users, caregivers and helping professionals from 2020 to 2021 to increase public awareness on ADHD. This was the first public seminar of the project. In addition, the Family and Group Practice Research Centre will assist The Hong Kong Association for AD/HD to run two MFGs that are led by the families of children with ADHD. The group aims to promote mutual help and support among the participating families, to encourage self-discovery of their family resources, to allow reflections on and learning from the experiences and resilience of others, specifically to improve their family relationships and resolve family difficulties. The groups will be held in mid-2021. Families of children with ADHD who are interested in participating in the MFG are welcome to contact the Association (telephone/WhatsApp: 6356 4053).
