Coaching for Adults With ADHD: A Prospective Study

Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) persists into adulthood for many and can also be newly diagnosed in adults. ADHD coaching is a form of support that can be used independently or integrated into a multimodal treatment approach. This report presents pre-post intervention findings from a single-arm mixed-methods study of a 12-session individual ADHD coaching engagement for adults. Coaches meeting defined criteria recruited clients through their private practices, screening for study eligibility. The coaching engagement followed a manualized approach, and coach-client working alliance was high. Goal attainment yielded positive results; and from pre- to post-test, statistically significant improvements, with medium to large effect sizes, were found using validated instruments measuring ADHD symptoms, executive functioning (EF), and functional impairment. The training, credentialing, and experience of coaches and the fairly homogenous client sample (e.g., gender, race, and education) must be considered in generalizing the results.