ADHD: Is there an app for that?

This month Lauren Powell attended the Royal College of Psychiatrists International Congress 2017 in Edinburgh. 

Here she presented a poster that showcased a project conducted by Lauren Powell, Miss Naomi Robertson (University of Sheffield Psychology student), Dr Jack Parker and Dr Val Harpin (Sheffield Children's Hospital consultant paediatrician). 

My research attachment at ScHARR

Pim Taleongpong

Pim is a second year medical student who worked with Miss Lauren Powell to produce a review about the use of apps with children and young people with ADHD. This is how she found her experience:

I was placed within the School of Health and Related Research (ScHARR) for six weeks and worked on a project titled “Children and young people with ADHD – is there an app for that?”. During this time, I performed a scoping review to find out if there is evidence to suggest that apps can be beneficial in the management of paediatric ADHD. We have found that there are many apps for children and young people with ADHD most of which serve as a tool to help children with self-monitoring, time management, task scheduling and cognitive training. There are also apps that are designed for clinicians to help with decision making and treatment planning for patients with ADHD. These apps have great potential to improve ADHD management in children and young people

As a medical student, this was both an educational and eye opening experience for me as I began with very little knowledge about scoping reviews and also ADHD. Over the past six weeks I have had the chance to develop my critical appraisal skills and learnt new techniques to perform enhanced literature searches. It has been amazing to see how rapidly technology is changing medicine in the 21^st century, this has reinforced to me how important it is to be aware of new and unconventional treatments. I have thoroughly enjoyed my time at ScHARR and believe that the skills that I have learnt will positively impact on my future practice.

Written by Pim Taleongpong

Reflections of Research

Meet Frankie, she is a second year medical student at the university of Sheffield and has spent the past 6 weeks working with researcher Miss Lauren Powell in a research setting for the first time. This is what she has to say about her experience...

I have spent the last 6 weeks on a research attachment in the School of Health and related Research (ScHARR) writing a scoping review on whether apps can be useful for children and young people with ADHD. I found the task a little daunting at first as I haven’t done much academic writing before and a scoping review was a whole new type of paper to me.

As I gained a deeper understanding through carrying out more research, I found this project really engaging. It has been interesting to expand my knowledge on ADHD and to find out about new apps that can be useful. I particularly liked the apps that used technology such as eye-tracking and the indirect apps that could be used by teachers, parents and doctors surrounding the child’s life. I am excited to find out about new research as it is conducted.

I have developed many skills during this project including; learning how to carry out database searches and screen hundreds of papers, improving my excel skills, learning how to make a consort diagram and improving my referencing. This is also the first paper that I have written with a literature review and I enjoyed how each part would flow into the next: What ADHD is. How it affects the child’s life. Why it needs to be managed. How technology is engaging. That apps are an accessible form of technology. Everything made sense!

I would like to thank our supervisor for doing a great job, tracking our progress each week and making sure that we’d made sufficient progress. As a novice in the academic writing world, I feel like this project has helped me to develop all of the skills required with academic writing and has given me more confidence that I can bring to future projects.

Written by Frankie Dimambro-Denson

6 weeks in research- My experience

Izzy Faulkner

Izzy is a second year medial student who attended a 6-week placement with Miss Lauren Powell. It was her first experience of working independently within a research setting...

Having never properly experienced research before, I was apprehensive about starting my research attachment. The world of research seemed a scary place to just a second-year student, having come to University straight from sixth form. My school was a relatively small school with small class sizes and plenty of guidance, so 6 weeks of independent learning was a new concept to me.

The main thing that my time in research has taught me is that time management is key, this is the part I struggled the most with, as the majority of my past learning experiences (school and lectures) were fairly structured. I think that my time management skills improved as the 6 weeks progressed and I hope that the experience has made me a more independent learner and made me less reliant on structured timetables.

The 6-week placement has also made me appreciate the importance of research to the practice of medicine. Having researched the use of apps for ADHD for my placement, I now (think) I understand how much technology can impact on your practice as a doctor. This will hopefully mean that I can use the research skills that I have gained in the future to keep up-to-date with the latest research, in order to be the best doctor I can possibly be. I am very grateful for the opportunity to have a brief encounter of the research world and hope that it has made me a better doctor-to-be.

Written by Izzy Faulkner

Is Pokémon Go lighting the way for a new wave of physical activity in people with autism?

People of all abilities experience barriers to physical activity throughout their lifetime but barriers may be more pronounced for people with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD). Rigid adherences to routine and sensory sensitivities are just some of the symptoms commonly associated with ASD that can reduce motivation to engage in physical activities. However, I recently conducted a systematic review, which found that there are also a number of facilitators of physical activity for people with ASD, one of which provides a unique perspective on the Pokémon Go phenomenon.

The literature explored in my systematic review revealed that children with ASD have a preference for technology-based activities. Children also expressed more excitement for physical activities that involved their favourite fictional characters than typical physical activities. This suggests that media technologies that combine movement and exercise with pop culture interests can encourage many of those with ASD to take up a form of physical activity. One device that aptly demonstrates this theory in action is Pokémon Go, which encourages players to walk distances in order to catch creatures through their mobile phones. One of the successful aspects of Pokémon Go is that it is not a game specifically designed for people with mental health conditions. It is a universal game, targeted at both children and adults. Perhaps if the game were only targeted at people with ASD, they would be less inclined to use it. Instead, Pokémon Go took the world by storm and it just so happened to meet the needs of a physical activity facilitator for ASD individuals.

When people think of technology-based activities, they tend to think of sedentary activities that involve sitting down in front of a screen and not moving all that much for hours on end. In many circumstances, this is still an accurate reflection of the type of behaviour that technology can facilitate, especially in people with ASD. Pokémon Go has shown that technology does not always have to be like this. It can be a way of connecting with people that do not take to traditional health intervention and promotion strategies.

It will be interesting to see if more media technologies follow in the footsteps of Pokémon Go. There are hundreds of television shows and films and comics and video games that are ripe for the Pokémon Go treatment. There is unlimited potential in how far this can be taken but there is no evidence yet on the long-term implications of these types of technologies on physical activity levels. What happens when the players get bored? What happens when you have to start paying to keep on playing? These questions are unlikely to be answered in the near future but what is clear right now is the appeal of technologies, like Pokémon Go, to people with ASD.

Written by Liam Robson

Games you should play today #Worldalzheimersday

Since the launch of the AcTo Dementia website 6 months ago, we have evaluated more than 40 different types of game or activity, reviewing over 400 apps in the process. So far we have recommended 23 apps that are the most accessible of their type for people living with dementia, encompassing a diverse range of games or activities. These have included classic board games, sports simulations, interactive art and modern puzzlers.

When taking the apps out-and-about for people with dementia and their families to test and play for fun, the most popular based on feedback are Jigty Jigsaws, Dominoes, Bubble Explode and 10 Pin Shuffle. Some of these can be enjoyed independently during those quiet times when a bit of escapist fun is needed, whereas others can be played with another person as a shared activity.

Our process for selecting apps involves firstly identifying the type of app that we will review, for example dominoes or football. We then search the app store for examples of the app type and download at least ten representations of the app for review. Each of the ten apps are then analysed using our evidence-based App Evaluation Tool, which generates a score for each app based on the presence or absence of design features that have been shown to have an impact on accessibility for people living with dementia. The highest scoring app is then sent for final approval to the lead researcher, and if approved is published on the website as a recommended app.

Not all of our app evaluations lead to app recommendations, as just because an app is the highest scoring and therefore the most accessible of its type, doesn’t mean it is of sufficient quality or suitability and therefore worthy of recommendation. This is demonstrated by the fact that we have so far rejected 18 different types of app on this basis, including driving simulators, spot the difference puzzles and Chinese Checkers.

Suggestions for types of app to be considered for review are always welcome. Initially our selections have been based on feedback from Patient and Public Involvement (PPI) forums, ideas suggested by staff members and service users of places visited by the research team, and the previous work of members of the research team when developing touchscreen software for people living with dementia. We encourage visitors to the website to contact us or post in the forum if they have specific types of app they would like us to review and recommend, and this will be crucial in continuing our aim to develop a catalogue of accessible apps for people living with dementia that can be browsed on our website.

Over the next six months we have app recommendations of Sudoku, bingo, adult colouring, Scrabble and free-form painting all pending publication, and we are also intending to widen our catalogue from just gaming and activity apps to information resource, productivity and self-management apps. To stay up to date with all of this and more, follow us on Twitter @actodementia and bookmark our website www.actodementia.com.