‘If I can find the right structure and place for me to thrive, I know I can do amazing things’: A qualitative exploration of the experience of ADHD for young people and caregivers

Abstract

Attention deficit-hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) is the most commonly occurring neurodevelopmental condition across the globe. Young people with ADHD and their caregivers report that they frequently receive insufficient or unhelpful support despite the significant challenges they face. Women and girls with ADHD face an elevated risk of experiencing poor outcomes as they tend to have ADHD identified later in life or be overlooked. Very few researchers in the qualitative paradigm have considered the perspectives of young people and their families on what effective support looks like on their journey to develop the strategies and skills to manage the condition and overcome their experiences of stigma.

Firstly, I undertook a systematic search of qualitative literature. From this search, I identified 15 papers with content relevant to the topic of adaptive coping for caregivers of young people with ADHD. During data extraction and analysis, I adapted the reflexive analytical framework for meta-synthesis to align the epistemological position more closely to a social constructionist perspective. This analysis led to the construction of three analytic themes which illustrate key aspects of a caregiver journey towards adaptive coping.  In the discussion, I consider whether tensions may exist within qualitative literature and theory between perceptions of adaptive coping held by the participants and by the researchers. 

Secondly, I conducted a qualitative research study of women’s and girls’ experiences of supportive and unsupportive responses to a disclosure of their ADHD during their childhood and adolescence. I conducted data extraction and analysis according to the principles of inductive reflexive thematic analysis. The constructed themes outlined participants’ experiences of interactions that they considered to have affected identity formation during their youth.

Taken together, both studies consider the impact of supportive and unsupportive interactions on the socio-emotional functioning of family and child. The implications of this are discussed broadly and within the context of educational psychology.

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Identifiers

ORCID for Rebecca Elizabeth Hartley: orcid.org/0000-0003-1492-5904

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