Driving an intervention model for the treatment of symptoms of attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder in adults by referring to the grounded theory

Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) in adulthood is one of the most complex disorders known in recent years, and the improvement of the symptoms of ADHD has been treated only by relying on medication. The lack of comprehensive and complete treatment with long-term effectiveness in this age is one of the weak points of the scientific field. But the question is, what are the problems of an adult with ADHD for which a suitable treatment can be found?

The present study aimed to derive an intervention model for treating adult problems with ADHD.

This qualitative study was conducted using the grounded theory approach. The study population was adults with ADHD, professionals, and all relevant scientific sources, who were selected based on purposive sampling. The primary data have been coded and then the codes were categorized and aggregated into more complete categories. Coding was done in three types including open, axial, and selective levels in the patient, expert, and resource directions.

Through the interviews with each participant, experts, and scientific texts, selection codes were obtained, respectively. Finally, by merging three categories of codes extracted from participants, experts, and scientific sources, the eight categories appeared as the main problem of adults with ADHD. Based on the identified problems, therapeutic strategies including cognitive rehabilitation, emotion regulation training, metacognition, motivational interviewing, correct social communication training, sleep/wake cycle regulation, and daily physical activity were eproposed intervention model.

A multidimensional approach should be adopted for effective treatment in the field of ADHD in adults. The intervention model extracted in this study can be considered an effective treatment by researchers in the field of therapy.