Efficacy of an Occupational Intervention for Improving Quality of Work Life in Adults Living With ADHD

Efficacy of an Occupational Intervention for Quality of Work Life in ADHD: A Randomized Controlled Trial Protocol

An adaptation of the Minds@Work intervention to improve quality of life at work for adults living with attention deficit disorder with/without hyperactivity (ADHD), following a group format.

In this study, the research team has developed a psychosocial group intervention specifically aimed at improving quality of life at work for ADHD workers. Work-related themes cover motivation, accommodations, problem solving, cognitive functions (i.e. attention and memory), hyperactivity and impulsivity, interpersonal interactions, and medication management.

The general objective of this project is to evaluate the effectiveness of this new psychosocial intervention aimed at improving the quality of life at work of workers living with ADHD, using a randomized controlled trial design.

More specifically, the project will aim to:

Objective #1: Evaluate the effectiveness of the intervention on the quality of life at work of workers living with ADHD (primary outcome).

Objective #2: Evaluate the effectiveness of the intervention on secondary variables, namely the satisfaction of psychological needs, job satisfaction, well-being at work, self-esteem as a worker, occupational self-efficacy, cognitive functioning, self-compassion and the quality of the relationship with members of the workplace (secondary outcomes).

• Hypothesis #1: There will be a statistically significant improvement in the quality of life at work between the pre- and post-intervention measurements in participants receiving the experimental condition.
• Hypothesis #2: There will be a statistically significant condition*time interaction indicating that the improvement in quality of work life among participants receiving the experimental condition between the pre- and post-intervention measurement times will be greater than that of the control condition.
• Hypotheses #3 to 10: There will be a statistically significant improvement in the secondary outcomes mentioned above between the pre- and post-intervention measurements among participants receiving the experimental condition.
• Hypothesis #11: For participants receiving the experimental condition, there will be no statistically significant difference in quality of work life between the follow-up times, indicating that the gains acquired during the intervention will be maintained at 3, 6, 9, and 12 months.

Our research team collaborates with the PANDA Les Deux-Rives association, which is a non-profit organization specializing in ADHD. The psychosocial intervention was co-designed, which allows the involvement of field stakeholders in all stages of the research. This involvement promotes the creation of a final research output that will meet the needs of the target population and that will be easily implemented in the organizational structures already in place.

Inclusion Criteria:

• Age ≥ 18 years
• French language proficiency
• Score ≤ 4 on Part A of the Adult ADHD Self-Report Scale (ASRS-v1.1)
• Currently employed
• Express desire to improve Quality of Work Life (QoWL)

Exclusion Criteria:

• Currently receiving psychosocial services (e.g., psychotherapy, occupational therapy) specifically targeting QoWL improvement