bioRxiv2018
Although dyslexia affects 5-8% of the workforce this developmental disorder is insufficiently researched within adult psychological research. Dyslexia confers legal protections wherein employers must provide accommodations to support work performance, including coaching activities. Implementation of accommodations has moved forward without an evidence-base to date. The present systematic review investigates to what extent face-to-face learning interventions improve the working memory capacity and self-efficacy of adults with dyslexia guided by a realist, narrative framework. We extracted 25 studies from eleven countries, prioritizing relevant learning intervention protocols above population context, synthesizing the delivery context and impact on mechanisms of working memory (N=501) and self-efficacy (N=1211) also contextual, work-related outcomes such as comprehension. Though limited by inadequate intervention descriptions in primary papers, a narrative synthesis determined that learning interventions compliant with Social Cognitive Learning Theory elicited reliable outcomes for not only self-efficacy, as would be expected, but also improved working memory and workplace contextualized variables. Development of metacognition, stress management and fidelity to Goal Setting Theory were also inferred as valuable intervention features. Implications include the need for population-specific evaluation of the emergent conceptual framework to further our understanding of disability accommodations, and questioning the ecological validity of working memory as an intervening mechanism.