Prerequisites for increased inclusion and sustainability in working life for young adults with ADHD

This co-creative project aims to investigate the prerequisites and obstacles to sustainable work participation among young adults with attention deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), aged 19–29-years.

The diagnosis was previously considered to mainly have consequences for children, but in recent years awareness has increased that symptoms and difficulties associated with ADHD continue into adulthood.

About 2.6% of the world´s adult population have residual symptoms of ADHD in adulthood and nearly 7% have symptoms of ADHD without having them in childhood. Only about 30% of those with ADHD worked during young adulthood.

Today, knowledge is limited about which factors are important for the target group´s opportunities to establish themselves in the labour market and achieve sustainable work participation over time.

In addition, there is a lack of research on the importance of co-morbidity, gender patterns, and individual factors for work participation.

It is therefore important to identify factors that influence work participation, sick leave and unemployment among individuals with ADHD.

The project intends to a) from a societal perspective via register data, investigate what characterises different patterns of work participation, sick leave, and unemployment in the case of ADHD and what role co-morbidity and gender have for this; and b) from an individual perspective, via interviews, deepen the knowledge of individual and societal prerequisites for work entry and a sustainable work participation.

The project can contribute knowledge about how best to support young adults with ADHD and can be developed to promote the target group´s inclusion in working life.

The Swedish National Attention Association and the reaserachers agree that the project addresses an important topic for young adults with ADHD and can bring important knowledge that can be useful for the current target group. Attention will be an important partner during the entire implementation of the project.