Conectar Jugando Online: Board Games to Improve Executive Function in School-age Children (CJ-Online)

Child Development Clinical Trial

— CJ-Online  

Official title:

Conectar Jugando Online: Effectiveness of an Online Modern Board Game-based Cognitive Training to Improve Executive Function in School-age Children by a Randomized Controlled Trial

Clinical Trial Details — Status: Completed

Administrative data

• NCT number: NCT04823338
• Other study ID #: NCT2021CJ
• Status: Completed
• Phase: N/A
• Start date: December 16, 2020
• Est. completion date: June 16, 2021

Study information

• Verified date: October 2021
• Source: Brain In Game scientific-technical service
• Contact: n/a
• Is FDA regulated: No
• Study type: Interventional

Clinical Trial 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).

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.

Recruitment information / eligibility

• Status: Completed
• Enrollment: 35
• Est. completion date: June 16, 2021
• Est. primary completion date: May 27, 2021
• Accepts healthy volunteers: Accepts Healthy Volunteers
• Gender: All
• Age group: 6 Years to 12 Years

Eligibility

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

Related Conditions & MeSH terms

• Child Development
• Cognitive Change

Intervention

Behavioral:
• Conectar Jugando Online Program
Online play sessions with modern board and card games guided by the study researchers

Locations

Country	Name	City	State
Spain	Faculty of Education, Psychology and Social Work; University of Lleida	Lleida

Sponsors (3)

Lead Sponsor	Collaborator
Brain In Game scientific-technical service	Atención, Familia, Infancia, Mayores (AFIM21), Mercurio Distribuciones

Country where clinical trial is conducted

Spain, 

References & Publications (4)

Benzing V, Schmidt M, Jäger K, Egger F, Conzelmann A, Roebers CM. A classroom intervention to improve executive functions in late primary school children: Too 'old' for improvements? Br J Educ Psychol. 2019 Jun;89(2):225-238. doi: 10.1111/bjep.12232. Epub 2018 Jun 26. — View Citation

Diamond A. Executive functions. Annu Rev Psychol. 2013;64:135-68. doi: 10.1146/annurev-psych-113011-143750. Epub 2012 Sep 27. Review. — View Citation

Estrada-Plana V, Esquerda M, Mangues R, March-Llanes J, Moya-Higueras J. A Pilot Study of the Efficacy of a Cognitive Training Based on Board Games in Children with Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder: A Randomized Controlled Trial. Games Health J. 2019 Aug;8(4):265-274. doi: 10.1089/g4h.2018.0051. Epub 2019 Jan 17. — View Citation

Fadhli, M., Brick, B., Setyosari, P., Ulfa, S., & Kuswandi, D. (2020). A Meta-Analysis of Selected Studies on the Effectiveness of Gamification Method for Children. International Journal of Instruction, 13(1), 845-854. https://doi.org/10.29333/iji.2020.13154a

Outcome

Type	Measure	Description	Time frame	Safety issue
Other	Time spent on less-structured activities	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.	Baseline
Other	Player satisfaction	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)	During the intervention
Other	Sociodemographic data (age, sex, school year and socioeconomic status)	Hollingshead Index (Hollingshead, 1975)	Baseline
Other	Parent Play Beliefs	"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.	Baseline and post intervention (after 6 weeks)
Primary	Change in verbal updating from baseline to post intervention	Verbal keep track task (Tamnes et al., 2010)	Baseline and post intervention (after 6 weeks)
Primary	Change in visuospatial updating from baseline to post intervention	Visuospatial keep track task (Tamnes et al., 2010)	Baseline and post intervention (after 6 weeks)
Primary	Change in inhibition from baseline to post intervention	5 digits test (Sedó, 2004)	Baseline and post intervention (after 6 weeks)
Primary	Change in cognitive flexibility from baseline to post intervention	5 digits test (Sedó, 2004)	Baseline and post intervention (after 6 weeks)
Primary	Change in reasoning from baseline to post intervention	TONI-4 (Ruíz-Fernández, 2019)	Baseline and post intervention (after 6 weeks)
Primary	Change in verbal fluency from baseline to post intervention	Phonological and semantic fluency (letter M and animals, ENFEN, Portellano & Martínez-Arias, R. Zumárraga, 2009)	Baseline and post intervention (after 6 weeks)
Secondary	Change in behavioral executive functions from baseline to post intervention	ATENTO (Luque & Sánchez-Sánchez, 2019)	Baseline and post intervention (after 6 weeks)
Secondary	Change in emotional and behavioral problems from baseline to post intervention	SENA (Sistema de Evaluación de Niños y Adolescentes, Fernández-Pinto, L Santamaría, Sánchez-Sánchez, F Carrasco, & Del Barrio, 2015)	Baseline and post intervention (after 6 weeks)