Preliminary Results of a Scoping Review on Assistive Technologies for Adults with ADHD

2026-01-29

AI Summary

Adults with ADHD face unique challenges in workplace and higher education settings, yet existing research on assistive technologies has predominantly emphasized therapeutic interventions, lacking a systematic synthesis and a strengths-based support perspective. This study addresses this gap by conducting the first scoping review using the PRISMA-ScR framework, screening 3,538 records and including 46 studies for analysis through bibliometric and qualitative content methods. Findings indicate a notable increase in research output in recent years but underscore an urgent need to shift toward technology designs that prioritize empowerment and support for everyday functioning. The review systematically highlights the necessity of transitioning from a pathology-focused paradigm to one centered on positive, functional support, while identifying critical gaps and promising directions for future research in this domain.

Technology Category

• Humans and AI: AI for Accessibility
• Application Domains: Humanities & Computational Social Science
• Cognitive Modeling & Cognitive Systems: Adaptive Behavior

Application Category

• Responsible Web: Data and user privacy-enhancing technologies for the Web
• Security and Privacy: Privacy-enhancing technologies
• Search and Retrieval-Augmented AI: Efficiency and scalability of Web search engines

Abstract

Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD), characterized by inattention, hyperactivity, and impulsivity, is prevalent in the adult population. Long perceived and treated as a childhood condition, ADHD and its characteristics nonetheless impact a significant portion of adults today. In contrast to children with ADHD, adults with ADHD face unique challenges in the workplace and in higher education. In this work-in-progress paper, we present a scoping review as a foundation to understand and explore existing technology-based approaches to support adults with ADHD. In total, our search returned 3,538 papers upon which we selected, based on PRISMA-ScR, a total of 46 papers for in-depth analysis. Our initial findings highlight that most papers take on a therapeutic or intervention perspective instead of a more positive support perspective. Our analysis also found a tremendous increase in recent papers on the topic, which highlights that more and more researchers are becoming aware of the need to address ADHD with adults. For the future, we aim to further analyze the corpus and identify research gaps and potentials for further development of ADHD assistive technologies.

Problem

• ADHD
• assistive technologies
• adults
• scoping review
• support

Innovation

• scoping review
• assistive technologies
• adult ADHD
• technology-based support
• PRISMA-ScR