The grant comes from the NWO’s Social Sciences and Humanities (SSH) Open Competition XS for research proposals for curiosity-driven, innovative research.
Unlocking the key to self-regulation
Attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) affects a growing proportion of the global workforce. Research indicates a growing pool of people with ADHD-like symptoms, with up to 25-30 per cent of adults reporting ADHD-like symptoms. In the Netherlands, for example, the number of adults treated for ADHD has quadrupled since 2006. On of the main issues for those affected is the difficulty to self-regulate.
“While those who are affected often demonstrate exceptional creativity and entrepreneurial potential, self-regulation challenges frequently limit their ability to thrive at work. For employers, this represents a missed opportunity to harness neurodiverse talents that could drive innovation,” says Andreas.
The ability to direct attention, thoughts, emotions, and behaviours towards personal goals is essential for success in work and life, but those with ADHD or related symptoms are especially likely to struggle in this area.
Dr Distel is principal investigator, and will work with associate professor Dr Ingrid Verheul from RSM and several project partners from business, for example Silatha BV, a company specialised in helping employers create psychologically safe environments for diverse employees. The resulting smartphone-based app will address the need for support and develop an innovative and effective intervention.
These are not ‘unchangeable deficiencies’
Impulsivity and difficulty focusing from ADHD can affect performance at work and mental health. There’s also an increased chance of burnout and depression, and it sometimes comes with a sense of hopelessness. Research shows that repeated self-regulation failures at work can foster negative self-belief, and that those with ADHD begin to believe that their challenges reflect inherent, unchangeable deficiencies. Dr Distel explains that repeated self-regulation failures can result in a fixed mindset about the ability to self-regulate, which undermines self-efficacy and reduces the perceived value of engaging in self-regulation training. At the same time, ADHD brains have certain characteristics, such as being driven more by interest than by importance, which may require self-regulation techniques that work best for one’s needs and goals.
A promising means to counter the negative cycle is by fostering a growth mindset – the belief that personal attributes, such as abilities and skills, can be developed through learning, experimentation, and the right strategies, explains Dr Distel. There’s no specific research yet on ADHD and the growth mindset in the workplace, but many studies demonstrate that targeted growth mindset interventions – often drawing on principles of neuroplasticity and the analogy of the brain as a ‘muscle’ – can successfully reduce fixed beliefs.
That’s the central aim of Dr Distel’s project: to create new knowledge, advancing evidence-based support for adults with ADHD in the workplace through a targeted growth mindset intervention delivered via a smartphone app.
Guided dialogues
The AI-powered app combines short videos with a self-persuasion exercise in which users engage in a guided dialogue with a chatbot that encourages reflection and motivation. Dr Distel’s project will first test this approach in an open online experiment, then test again in a field experiment with employees of a large tech company.
It will be the first mindset intervention specifically designed for workplace ADHD support. “In the two experiments, we will test whether this approach increases engagement with self-regulation training and enhances its impact on workplace outcomes,” says Dr Distel.
Enhancing well-being for neurodiverse talent
Dr Distel intends to create an accessible, scalable tool that strengthens employees’ belief in their own ability to improve self-regulation, as well as increasing their engagement with workplace training, and ultimately enhances their well-being, resilience, and job performance. “Adults with ADHD and their employers will benefit most directly, as the intervention seeks to unlock the entrepreneurial and creative strengths often found in neurodiverse talent,” says Dr Distel, who adds: “By fostering growth-oriented beliefs about self-regulation, the intervention also has the potential to support a broader working population that struggles with focus and impulse control in today’s work environments of constant connectivity and distractions.”
