Second-year OTD student Peyton Gemmell led a short course, An Occupational Perspective on Navigating Food-Related Occupations for Adults with ADHD, at the North Carolina Occupational Therapy Association’s fall conference held Nov. 3-5.
Her presentation was based on a customized learning project she’s been working on with Antoine Bailliard, PhD, MS, OTR/L since January 2023. The work focuses on the occupational impacts of ADHD on food-related occupations - meal prepping, grocery shopping, cooking, eating, food storage, and clean up - and potential strength-based solutions. Gemmell collected data using a content analysis of TikTok to document first-person narratives of adults with ADHD describing their food-related occupational issues and strategies to overcome them. She searched TikTok using food-related occupational terms (e.g., cooking, grocery shopping) and ADHD. She took detailed notes on the video content and user interactions.
Adults with ADHD experience occupational issues due to challenges with inattention, hyperactivity, impulsivity, planning, motivation, sensory processing, and others. Food-related occupations are often especially challenging and there is a gap in the literature documenting the experience.
Gemmell's findings highlight a range of food-related occupational issues and solutions that occupational therapy practitioners can implement to support clients with ADHD.
What was it like to present to a big group of students and professionals?
I had so much fun presenting! I was a little nervous at first but got really comfortable as the hour and a half went by. The time really flew by because of how involved and willing to participate in the session participants were. I was also super grateful to have some familiar classmates and faculty faces in the room. The discussion was rich, and I hope that each person in the room was able to take something back to use in practice.
What did you take away from the experience? How did this project inform your future goals?
I learned not to be scared to explore emerging ideas and see where they take you. As for my future, this project has allowed me to explore uncharted areas of occupational therapy. I could really see myself in an emerging practice setting in the future. The experience also made me excited to explore and attend future OT conferences.