Project overview
Background
Autism and ADHD diagnoses are increasing in adults. People often experience mental health problems alongside autism or ADHD, and Autism and ADHD often occur together (sometimes called ‘AuDHD’). The most common mental health problems (like depression or anxiety) are often seen and treated in primary care (e.g. by a GP). However primary care staff find it difficult to know the difference between symptoms of a psychological disorder (like depression), emotional distress (reacting to really difficult situations in life), and autism or ADHD. They can look very similar which can lead to people being incorrectly diagnosed or given treatments that might not be suitable.
Aim
We want to create a resource to help primary care staff improve how they identify mental health problems in autistic or ADHD adults and what support they provide. We will do this by talking to doctors, and other practitioners about their experiences.
Methods
We aim to interview 30 practitioners about their experiences with identifying and supporting mental health problems and autism or ADHD in primary care (e.g. GP practices). We will ask them what they find difficult and what helps them. We will also ask them what might help to improve things. We will use all of this information to plan a resource (e.g. online training) to improve how they can identify and support autistic or ADHD adults with mental health problems. We will create this with our public contributor group in online workshops. We will also use our findings from another study interviewing autistic/ADHD adults.
PPI
We will work as a team, including two core team members with lived experience of autism or ADHD, and meet every month to discuss the research. We will also have four public contributors with lived experience who will meet at four points in the study. They will collaborate on the research plans, the interviews, how we interpret the findings, and how we share our results. This group will help make decisions about what should be included in a resource for practitioners and how it should be delivered.
Impact
We will share our findings with the community through autism/ADHD charities and social media. We will produce a detailed and scientific plan for a resource to improve practitioners in primary care to identify and support autistic or ADHD adults with mental health problems. We will develop this further and test it in future studies. We will also create a visual illustration of our findings for practitioners so that our results can also be shared more quickly. We hope that this work would improve diagnosis and support for autistic and ADHD adults in primary care who are experiencing poor mental health.
Autism and ADHD diagnoses are increasing in adults. People often experience mental health problems alongside autism or ADHD, and Autism and ADHD often occur together (sometimes called ‘AuDHD’). The most common mental health problems (like depression or anxiety) are often seen and treated in primary care (e.g. by a GP). However primary care staff find it difficult to know the difference between symptoms of a psychological disorder (like depression), emotional distress (reacting to really difficult situations in life), and autism or ADHD. They can look very similar which can lead to people being incorrectly diagnosed or given treatments that might not be suitable.
Aim
We want to create a resource to help primary care staff improve how they identify mental health problems in autistic or ADHD adults and what support they provide. We will do this by talking to doctors, and other practitioners about their experiences.
Methods
We aim to interview 30 practitioners about their experiences with identifying and supporting mental health problems and autism or ADHD in primary care (e.g. GP practices). We will ask them what they find difficult and what helps them. We will also ask them what might help to improve things. We will use all of this information to plan a resource (e.g. online training) to improve how they can identify and support autistic or ADHD adults with mental health problems. We will create this with our public contributor group in online workshops. We will also use our findings from another study interviewing autistic/ADHD adults.
PPI
We will work as a team, including two core team members with lived experience of autism or ADHD, and meet every month to discuss the research. We will also have four public contributors with lived experience who will meet at four points in the study. They will collaborate on the research plans, the interviews, how we interpret the findings, and how we share our results. This group will help make decisions about what should be included in a resource for practitioners and how it should be delivered.
Impact
We will share our findings with the community through autism/ADHD charities and social media. We will produce a detailed and scientific plan for a resource to improve practitioners in primary care to identify and support autistic or ADHD adults with mental health problems. We will develop this further and test it in future studies. We will also create a visual illustration of our findings for practitioners so that our results can also be shared more quickly. We hope that this work would improve diagnosis and support for autistic and ADHD adults in primary care who are experiencing poor mental health.
