Child Development, Cognitive Change
Conditions
Keywords
executive function, modern board and card games, cognitive training, school-age children
Brief summary
Good development of executive functions at school has been related to a better adaptation of children in different areas of their daily life and, especially, with adequate academic performance. Taking into account the importance of play in childhood, some interventions aimed at training these cognitive processes have been based on the use of playful elements, such as modern board games. Although it is still an unexplored field of research, some studies with older elementary school children and with ADHD children have found significant improvements in executive functions after training that had the board game as a key intervention element. However, we still do not have studies that have explored the possible cognitive benefits of its use throughout the primary stage with the general population. For this reason, the main objective of this study is to test the effectiveness of a cognitive training program based on modern board games in primary education children (6 to 12 years old).
Detailed description
As hypotheses, it is established that: i) the experimental group will present a significantly greater improvement in the neuropsychological tasks that measure executive functions and associated cognitive processes compared to the passive control group after the intervention; ii) the experimental group will present a significantly greater improvement in the tests evaluated by their parents after the intervention compared to the passive control group. All hypotheses will be controlled for age, estimate of IQ and socioeconomic status, as well as previous experience in board games and other cognitive activities.
Interventions
BEHAVIORALConectar Jugando Online Program
Online play sessions with modern board and card games guided by the study researchers
Sponsors
Atención, Familia, Infancia, Mayores (AFIM21)
Mercurio Distribuciones
Brain In Game scientific-technical service
Study design
Allocation
RANDOMIZED
Intervention model
PARALLEL
Primary purpose
PREVENTION
Masking
SINGLE (Outcomes Assessor)
Intervention model description
Interventional (Clinical trial)
Eligibility
Sex/Gender
ALL
Age
6 Years to 12 Years
Healthy volunteers
Yes
Inclusion criteria
* be enrolled in a public, private or subsidized ordinary educational center * provide informed consent from both parents and the participant's agreement to participate in the study
Exclusion criteria
* comprehension difficulties due to language reasons * sensory difficulties that make it impossible to carry out the program activities * not having the necessary equipment to monitor the sessions online
Design outcomes
Primary
| Measure | Time frame | Description |
|---|---|---|
| Change in verbal fluency from baseline to post intervention | Baseline and post intervention (after 6 weeks) | Phonological and semantic fluency (letter M and animals, ENFEN, Portellano & Martínez-Arias, R. Zumárraga, 2009) |
| Change in verbal updating from baseline to post intervention | Baseline and post intervention (after 6 weeks) | Verbal keep track task (Tamnes et al., 2010) |
| Change in visuospatial updating from baseline to post intervention | Baseline and post intervention (after 6 weeks) | Visuospatial keep track task (Tamnes et al., 2010) |
| Change in inhibition from baseline to post intervention | Baseline and post intervention (after 6 weeks) | 5 digits test (Sedó, 2004) |
| Change in cognitive flexibility from baseline to post intervention | Baseline and post intervention (after 6 weeks) | 5 digits test (Sedó, 2004) |
| Change in reasoning from baseline to post intervention | Baseline and post intervention (after 6 weeks) | TONI-4 (Ruíz-Fernández, 2019) |
Secondary
| Measure | Time frame | Description |
|---|---|---|
| Change in behavioral executive functions from baseline to post intervention | Baseline and post intervention (after 6 weeks) | ATENTO (Luque & Sánchez-Sánchez, 2019) |
| Change in emotional and behavioral problems from baseline to post intervention | Baseline and post intervention (after 6 weeks) | SENA (Sistema de Evaluación de Niños y Adolescentes, Fernández-Pinto, L Santamaría, Sánchez-Sánchez, F Carrasco, & Del Barrio, 2015) |
Other
| Measure | Time frame | Description |
|---|---|---|
| Time spent on less-structured activities | Baseline | adapted from Parent Survey of Typical Child Time Spent in Less-structured Activities (Barker et al., 2014) In this survey, parents are asked (with the help of their children) about the time their children dedicate to less-structured and recreational activities using a using a 7-point scale (from lowest to highest frequency). High scores on each item mean a higher frequency in that activity. The sum of all the scores on each item (where 1= 'Never' and 7 = 'Daily') results in a typical less-structured activity score. |
| Player satisfaction | During the intervention | Visual analogue scale created ad hoc The scale consists of two questions: * Degree of satisfaction in reference to the play session * Degree of satisfaction in reference to the modern board and card games used in the play session Participants respond using a 5-option scale consisting of 5 stars (1 star = Not at all satisfied; 5 = Very satisfied) |
| Sociodemographic data (age, sex, school year and socioeconomic status) | Baseline | Hollingshead Index (Hollingshead, 1975) |
| Parent Play Beliefs | Baseline and post intervention (after 6 weeks) | The Parent Play Beliefs Scale (PPBS) (Fogle & Mendez, 2006) It consists of 30 items with 5 response options ranging from 1 (Disagree) to 5 (Strongly agree). Two subscales have been considered: a) Play support; b) Acedemic focus. The Play Support subscale refers to parents' positive beliefs about the relevance of play for children's development and about their participation in play with children. High scores on this subscale indicate that parents enjoy play, prioritize play, and view it as a means of teaching. The Academic focus subscale is made up of elements about the parents' emphasis on academic skills and the belief that play can promote their development. The Academic focus subscale is made up of elements about the parents' emphasis on academic skills and the belief that play can promote their development. High scores on this subscale would indicate that parents see the academic role of play as important. |
Countries
Spain
Outcome results
None listed