# Preliminary Results of a Scoping Review on Assistive Technologies for Adults with ADHD

**Authors:** Valerie Tan, Luisa Jost, Jens Gerken, Max Pascher  
**arXiv:** [2601.21791](https://arxiv.org/abs/2601.21791)  
**Date:** 2026-01-29  
**Summary page:** https://www.summarizepaper.com/en/arxiv-id/2601.21791v1/

## Key points

- Scoping review on technology-based approaches to support adults with ADHD
- Selected 46 papers for in-depth analysis out of 3,538 returned papers
- Papers spanned years 2007-2025, significant increase in publications from 2021-2025
- Technologies explored: mobile applications, personal computers, games across platforms, VR, robots, wearables
- Categories of technical approaches identified: psychotherapy, education, among others
- Interdisciplinary nature of ADHD technology research required comprehensive search query process
- Growing awareness among researchers regarding the need for technological interventions for adults with ADHD
- Potential for further development of assistive technologies to support adults with ADHD

## Summary

In this paper, we present a scoping review on technology-based approaches to support adults with Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD). Our search returned 3,538 papers and after following PRISMA-ScR guidelines, we selected 46 for in-depth analysis. The final corpus of papers spanned the years 2007-2025 and showed a significant increase in publications from 2021-2025. These papers were sourced from various conferences and journals including ACM and IEEE conferences as well as psychology and psychiatry journals. The technologies explored in these papers varied widely with mobile applications and personal computers being the most common platforms. Games across multiple platforms, virtual reality (VR), robots, and wearables were also utilized in some studies. To analyze the technical approaches presented in the selected papers, two authors identified categories of approaches which were refined through group discussion. Categories included psychotherapy and education among others. The interdisciplinary nature of ADHD technology research required a comprehensive search query process involving initial naive searches followed by algorithmic extension using litsearchr. This process generated relevant keywords for the final search query. Overall, our initial findings indicate a growing awareness among researchers regarding the need to address ADHD in adults through technological interventions. While most papers focused on therapeutic or intervention perspectives, there is potential for further development of assistive technologies that provide positive support for adults with ADHD. Moving forward, we aim to conduct further analysis to identify research gaps and opportunities for enhancing ADHD support technologies for adults.