ABSTRACT

Objective: The aim of this systematic review was to examine the effect of intervention on the executive function in children and adolescents with Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder(ADHD) and to provide evidence regarding occupational therapy. Methods: Studies for this review were collected by searching the Proquest, Scopus, and Pubmed databases for articles from 2009 to 2018 using the following keywords: “ADHD” AND “Executive function” AND “Intervention OR Therapy OR Effect OR Occupational therapy” AND “RCT OR Randomized control trial.” A total of 13 studies were included in this review paper. Results: The 13 studies were analyzed regarding their level of quality, general characteristics, types of interventions, measuring instruments, and areas of intervention effects as measured using dependent variables. The types of interventions included ten studies on cognitive intervention and three studies on physical intervention. Working memory among the areas of execution functions was most frequently used. The measurement tools for each area appeared to vary widely, including the Behavior Racing Inventory of Executive Function(BRIEF) and the Trail Making Test. Among the included studies, seven showed effectiveness in terms of working memory. Conclusion: This review showed the trends in interventions used to improve the executive function of children and adolescents with ADHD, as well as the assessment tools and areas of executive function that were effective. This study will provide a clinical basis for occupational therapists. Further studies should be actively conducted in the field of occupational therapy based on the results of this review.