Development and Validation of a Solution-Focused Psychological Empowerment Package for Mothers of Children with ADHD

Mozhan Hajihosseini; Yaser  Madani; Mehrangiz  Shoaa Kazemi

Authors

Mozhan Hajihosseini Counselling PhD Student, Kish International Campus, University of Tehran Author https://orcid.org/0009-0000-6129-2543
Yaser Madani Assistant Professor, Department of Counseling, Faculty of Psychology and Educational Sciences, University of Tehran, Tehran, Iran Corresponding Author https://orcid.org/0000-0002-6005-0646
Mehrangiz Shoaa Kazemi Associate Professor, Department of Women's and Family Studies, Faculty of Social Sciences and Economics, Alzahra University, Tehran, Iran. Author https://orcid.org/0000-0003-0370-0136

Abstract

Mothers of children with attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) frequently experience persistent daily stress, recurrent parent-child conflict, self-blame, and limited social support. Existing parent interventions primarily target child behavior and may not sufficiently address mothers’ psychological empowerment. To develop and establish the session-level content validity of a locally context-informed, solution-focused psychological empowerment package for mothers of children with ADHD. An exploratory sequential mixed-methods design was used. Ten mothers of children aged 6–12 years with ADHD participated in semi-structured interviews. Data were analyzed using thematic analysis, and the findings were integrated with solution-focused and empowerment principles to construct a six-session intervention. Six experts evaluated the package through an iterative expert content-validation process. Analysis yielded 264 initial codes, 43 subthemes, 15 main themes, and four core themes: challenges of managing everyday affairs; emotion and conflict regulation; adaptability and resilience; and requirements for effective therapeutic support. These findings informed a six-session, 90-minute weekly program addressing routine reconstruction, emotion regulation, conflict interruption, parenting identity, cognitive and social empowerment, and maintenance planning. All experts rated each session as essential (CVR = 1.00). Across five package-level rating dimensions scored on a 5-point scale, the mean normalized expert-rating proportion was 0.92. The resulting package shows strong session-level expert endorsement and a clear empirical-theoretical rationale. Its clinical efficacy and item-level content validity remain to be established in subsequent studies.

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