What about neurodiversity among nurses? A cross-sectional exploration of work environment and health among nurses with ADHD and/or autism

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Hedlund, Å. & Jordal, M. (2024). What about neurodiversity among nurses? A cross-sectional exploration of work environment and health among nurses with ADHD and/or autism. WORK: A Journal of Prevention, Assessment & Rehabilitation, 80(3), 1287-1295. https://doi.org/10.1177/10519815241289852

Publication date: 3 Dec 2024 Added to AutiHub: 22 Aug 2026 Type: Article Article language: English
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Authors

Publication authors
2
Publication authors identified as autistic
1 / 2 (50.0%)
  1. Åsa Hedlund *
  2. Malin Jordal

Abstract

Background Employees who have ADHD and/or autism frequently encounter difficulties in their workplace and with their health. Nevertheless, there is a dearth of research focusing on nurses who have ADHD and/or autism, even though the nursing profession presents various significant organizational and social challenges that may potentially have an impact on nurses with ADHD and/or autism. Objective The aim of the present study was to describe and examine associations between work environment, perceived health and satisfaction with given care among nurses who have ADHD and/or autism. Methods Recruitment of participants took place through Swedish social media groups, and data collection was carried out via a web-based questionnaire. A total of 99 nurses who self-reported a diagnosis of ADHD and/or autism were included in the study. Descriptive statistics, binary correlations and linear regression analyses were conducted to analyze the data. Results The nurses reported high quantitative demands at work, low sense of social community and managerial social support, low perceived health and high satisfaction with given care. Regarding associations between variables, nurses with more inattention (ADHD trait) reported higher quantitative demands at work, and nurses with more social anxiety (autistic trait) reported lower perceived health. Conclusions Among nurses with ADHD and/or autism, the organizational and social work environment and health are challenging, and these challenges seem to be partly connected to the ADHD and autistic traits. However, patient care was perceived to work well. More research is needed to evaluate how the perceived health of nurses with ADHD/autism can be improved.

Bibliography cited by this reference

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Cited bibliography overview

These indicators describe the bibliography cited by this publication. An author name is counted each time it appears in one cited reference, so the same person can be counted more than once. Names not yet linked to an author already present in AutiHub are treated as unknown, not as non-autistic. Last computed: 12 Sep 2026 18:15.

Cited references
56
With a DOI
41
Without a DOI, from raw bibliography text
15
3 / 56 (5.4%) cited references include at least one author identified as autistic.
References with data to complete
9 / 56 (16.1%)
References with detected author names
47 / 56 (83.9%)
Without detected author names
9
Without a structured title
9
Without a stable identifier
14
References with raw author names still to review
0
References with external metadata lookup issues
0
These indicators apply to cited references displayed on this page, after technical duplicates have been merged. A reference without a DOI can still support author statistics when a title and author names are available.
Author names detected in the cited bibliography
190
From DOI or external metadata
190
From validated raw bibliography text
0
Raw names already validated
0
Raw names still to review
9
31 / 190 (16.3%) names are linked to an author already present in AutiHub. 159 / 190 (83.7%) names are not yet linked.
Names linked to a person identified as autistic
7 / 190 (3.7%)
Calculated across all author names detected in the cited bibliography. Among names linked to an author already present in AutiHub: 7 / 31 (22.6%). Distinct people identified as autistic: 7 / 190 (3.7%).
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