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Background The importance of early intervention approaches for the treatment of attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) has been increasingly acknowledged. Parenting programmes (PPs) are recommended for use with preschool children with ADHD. However, low ‘take-up’ and high ‘drop-out’ rates compromise the effectiveness of such programmes within the community. Methods This qualitative study examined the views of 25 parents and 18 practitioners regarding currently available PPs for preschool children with ADHD-type problems in the UK. Semi-structured interviews were undertaken to identify both barriers and facilitators associated with programme access, programme effectiveness, and continued engagement. Results and conclusions Many of the themes mirrored previous accounts relating to generic PPs for disruptive behaviour problems. There were also a number of ADHD-specific themes. Enhancing parental motivation to change parenting practice and providing an intervention that addresses the parents' own needs (e.g. in relation to self-confidence, depression or parental ADHD), in addition to those of the child, were considered of particular importance. Comparisons between the views of parents and practitioners highlighted a need to increase awareness of parental psychological barriers among practitioners and for better programme advertising generally. Clinical implications and specific recommendations drawn from these findings are discussed and presented.

Spatial memory in mammals, including humans, appears highly sexually dimorphic. The present investigation sought to examine if spatial learning and spatial memory in humans is also linked to sexual orientation. This was achieved by using virtual reality versions of two classic paradigms developed in animal models of hippocampal functioning, the Morris Water Maze (MWM) and Radial Arm Maze (RAM). Here, we show that in contrast to heterosexual men, and in congruence with heterosexual women, homosexual men displayed significantly greater search latencies (spatial learning) during a virtual Morris Water Maze. During a virtual 8-arm Radial Arm Maze, heterosexual males had significantly shorter search latency than heterosexual females, and did not differ from homosexual males. Statistical modeling revealed that variations in neurodevelopmental markers previously associated with human sexual orientation (2nd to 4th finger length ratios and older fraternal siblings) differentially predicted MWM probe trial performance and RAM search latencies only. These data may limit the number of possible neurodevelopmental pathways responsible for sexual variation in components of spatial learning and memory.

Background: Effective implementation of parent training programmes for preschool Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder type is constrained by barriers limiting take-up and effective engagement by ‘hard to reach’ and ‘difficult to treat’ families. Method: We describe an evidence-driven adaptation and piloting of an existing empirically supported preschool ADHD parenting programme to address these problems. Results: The New Forest Parenting programme was changed substantially in terms of length; content and delivery on the basis of information gathered from the literature, from parents and practitioners, further modifications were made after the pilot study. Conclusions: The adapted-NFPP is currently being assessed for efficacy in a large multicentre randomized controlled trial.