Institute of Art Design + Technology
Dún Laoghaire

Denise Greene 

 
BSc [Hons] Applied Psychology

I am a mature student who wanted to try something different. As someone who likes to understand people, it seemed like studying psychology was a good fit for me. This undergraduate degree in Applied Psychology has taught me more than I could have imagined. I look forward to seeing what the future brings in the next leg of this unbelievable journey.

A qualitative study investigating the expert's opinions and recommendations to assist third-level students with ADHD

This qualitative study investigated the supports available to third-level students with ADHD. It used survey to gather data from 17 experts in the field of ADHD. The aim was to understand the needs of new and existing students and how best to facilitate support. Using Braun and Clarks 6 stages of Reflective Thematic Analysis, codes and themes were derived from the data set to reveal interesting results.


Project Objectives

The objective of this study was to find out what challenges face third-level students with academic work and how best to support them.

The study asked three main questions:

RQ1: What are the challenges facing students with ADHD at third level?
RQ2: What are the challenges facing support staff in 3rd level colleges supporting students with ADHD?
RQ3: What actions do support staff recommend to address these challenges?


Project Outcomes

The research study revealed that supports do in fact change significantly for students with ADHD between secondary school and third-level. Instead of having it everything done for them, students at third level must seek support themselves. This causes some issues with students not really understanding what was expected from them or getting lost in the process. One result recommended better signposting of supports and how to access them in third level colleges.