My PhD research project focuses on the experience of an ADHD diagnosis for adults involved in various stages of the justice system (prison, probation and reintegrative community groups).
Taking use of narrative criminology, the project will explore how late-diagnosed ADHD can impact the self narratives of offenders and explores how said diagnosis shapes their understanding of their offending behaviours and/or desistance pathways. In-depth interviews will be conducted, where life histories will be discussed and navigated, to consider how impactful an ADHD diagnosis was for the participants.
Desistance has been an area of interest since my BA (Criminology) research project, where I interviewed offending support groups to consider how the needs of individuals reintegrating into the community were met in the North of Ireland. My interest in ADHD stemmed from personal experience of late diagnosis, and grew from my MSc (Youth Justice) study which explored the experiences of childhood with undiagnosed ADHD and how this shaped self-understanding into adulthood.
