SmartADHD
Supported Management of ADHD with evidence-based Resources and Tools
SmartADHD
Supported Management of ADHD with evidence-based Resources and Tools
SmartADHD is a project that aims to co-develop an NHS approved smartphone app and AI chatbot for young people aged 16-25 with ADHD that will provide reliable healthcare information and tools to support positive management of ADHD into adulthood.
Our mission is to support the smart management of ADHD in diverse young people and help them to thrive as adults. Our multi-disciplinary team is working together to achieve this by co-developing, evaluating and implementing digital health solutions (such as smartphone apps and chatbots), designed to fit into NHS pathways. Our goal is to help a wide range of young people aged 16-25 with ADHD, or awaiting assessment, to access trusted healthcare information and tools that will help them manage their health long term.
Findings from our Management of ADHD in Primary Care (MAP) study, and other research, have shown that healthcare services are failing to meet the needs of many young people aged 16-25 with ADHD.
They are struggling to provide evidence-based and effective ADHD healthcare to young people during a phase in their lives when they face multiple challenges such as changing educational setting or leaving home for the first time and are at increased risk of mental health crises.
GPs, play a key role in care in healthcare for ADHD but have limited time available, are unlikely to hold expertise about ADHD in diverse young people and can struggle to provide reasonable adjustments and communicate effectively.
Current gaps in treatment, healthcare management, information provision, and psychoeducation for young people with ADHD are causing intense and unnecessary suffering, with high costs for individuals and society.
They are also increasing health inequalities, with those most needing support such as care givers or people for whom English is a second language, more likely to struggle to access care.
UK guidelines recommend the provision of information about ADHD to support management. However, this is rarely provided. Many young people with ADHD are unable to find reliable information on the different ways ADHD may impact their lives as they become adults and are at risk of unintended harm from misinformation.
Digital healthcare interventions, if developed alongside people with lived experience, have the potential to improve healthcare for young people with ADHD while being cost-effective for the NHS, and inclusive for currently underserved groups.
Young people and primary care professionals have told us that they would value a healthcare app, prescribed via primary care, that provides trusted and curated healthcare information and self-management support.
Our recently completed systematic review confirms that currently no healthcare app exists for young people with ADHD that meets NHS quality standards.
By working together with young people with ADHD, healthcare professionals, and digital experts, and harnessing learning from existing research, we aim to co-create an app that will improve usual care for ADHD in an engaging and accessible way.
Another finding of the MAP study, and our systematic review, is that while digital tools have the potential to improve healthcare for ADHD at scale, there are also risks that some people will find them difficult to access.
So, in addition to making sure that in-person support and printed information remains available, we want explore ways of helping as many young people as possible access digital healthcare.
Early evidence shows that a chatbot, designed to provide information in different languages, and at different levels of complexity, could help to improve digital accessibility, and include people from underserved groups.
For example, young people for whom English is not their first language, and those with different communication needs. We will be working together to explore how a chatbot can help address risks of digital exclusion.
Currently, AI will be contained to the chatbot as one tool or section of the app. This means that we are not using AI for the rest of the app or to create information.
The chatbot (like you might see on your energy supplier’s website), will condense information from specially-selected evidence-based sources, tailored to the needs of the user, for example being able to translate the information into different languages.
Other uses of AI for the app have been suggested by our lived experience collaborators, such as using AI to provide a brief summary of a page of information or customising how the information is presented based on user preferences and information. We are yet to make a final decision on this.
This research stems directly from the priorities of young people with ADHD and their families and builds on findings from a National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR) Three Schools Mental Health Fellowship, held by Dr Anna Price, (Grant Reference Number: MHF008) between 2021-2024, and an NIHR School for Primary Care Research Grant (Grant Reference Number: NIHR SPCR 640).
The SmartADHD project is co-located between the Exeter Collaboration for Primary Care (APEx), and the Children and Young People’s Mental Health Research Collaboration (ChYMe) and is informed by linked projects being undertaken within Exeter’s Science of ADHD and Neurodevelopment (SAND) collaboration.
SmartADHD app co-development is being funded by an NIHR Development and Skills Enhancement award held by Dr Anna Price.
Grant Reference Number: NIHR DSE 304122
“Co-developing a multilingual AI-powered virtual assistant, to increase engagement with the CareADHD app for young people aged 16-25 with ADHD: reducing health inequalities during transition.” is being funded by the UK Research and Innovation (UKRI) LEAP Digital Health Hub, Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC).
Grant Reference Number: LEAP 2024 7104
This work is being undertaken in collaboration with the Digital Futures Lab, (at the Torbay and South Devon NHS Foundation Trust), who are national leaders in developing AI-informed clinical innovations designed for implementation in the NHS.
