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

NCT04823338 | Completed DMC

• 1 other identifier: NCT2021CJ
• Study Type: interventional
• Target: 35
• Locations: 1 country
• Sites: 1

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).

Conditions

Cognitive Change; Child Development

Keywords

executive function; modern board and card games; cognitive training; school-age children

Outcome Measures

Primary Outcomes (6)

• Change in verbal updating from baseline to post intervention

  Verbal keep track task (Tamnes et al., 2010)

  Baseline and post intervention (after 6 weeks)

• Change in visuospatial updating from baseline to post intervention

  Visuospatial keep track task (Tamnes et al., 2010)

  Baseline and post intervention (after 6 weeks)

• Change in inhibition from baseline to post intervention

  5 digits test (Sedó, 2004)

  Baseline and post intervention (after 6 weeks)

• Change in cognitive flexibility from baseline to post intervention

  5 digits test (Sedó, 2004)

  Baseline and post intervention (after 6 weeks)

• Change in reasoning from baseline to post intervention

  TONI-4 (Ruíz-Fernández, 2019)

  Baseline and post intervention (after 6 weeks)

• 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 Outcomes (2)

• Change in behavioral executive functions from baseline to post intervention

  Baseline and post intervention (after 6 weeks)

• Change in emotional and behavioral problems from baseline to post intervention

  Baseline and post intervention (after 6 weeks)

Other Outcomes (4)

• Time spent on less-structured activities

  Baseline

• Player satisfaction

  During the intervention

• Sociodemographic data (age, sex, school year and socioeconomic status)

  Baseline

Study Arms (2)

Conectar Jugando Online Program

EXPERIMENTAL

The program consisted of 12 one-hour intervention sessions. The sessions were biweekly with a total duration of 6 weeks. The modern board and card games used in the program were Bee Alert (Knizia, 2012), Monster Match (Gruhl \& Weir, 2018), Sherlock Express (Kermarrec, 2019), Streams (Itsubaki, 2011) and Blurble (Bernard, 2013). The play sessions were carried out in groups of between 2 and 4 boys and girls of similar ages (same school stage) formed according to the availability of the participants. In the sessions, the physical games were projected on the videoconference tool by the researcher and the participating boys and girls carried out their actions using their voice and the platform tools. The program was gamified though a narrative about a space travel to different planets in discovering new games and get different mission badges and super team badges in their logbook.

Behavioral: Conectar Jugando Online Program

Wait-list group

NO INTERVENTION

Wait-list

Interventions

Conectar Jugando Online Program BEHAVIORAL

Online play sessions with modern board and card games guided by the study researchers

Also known as: Modern board and card games

Conectar Jugando Online Program

Eligibility Criteria

• Age: 6 Years - 12 Years
• Sex: all
• Healthy Volunteers: Yes
• Age Groups: Child (0-17)

You may qualify if:

• 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

You may not qualify if:

• 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

Sponsors & Collaborators

• Brain In Game scientific-technical service: lead
• Atención, Familia, Infancia, Mayores (AFIM21): collaborator
• Mercurio Distribuciones: collaborator

Study Sites (1)

Faculty of Education, Psychology and Social Work; University of Lleida

Lleida, 25001, Spain

Location

Related Publications (4)

• Benzing V, Schmidt M, Jager 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.

  PMID: 29947142 BACKGROUND

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

  PMID: 23020641 BACKGROUND

• 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.

  PMID: 30653355 BACKGROUND

• 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

  BACKGROUND

Study Design

• Study Type: interventional
• Phase: not applicable
• Allocation: RANDOMIZED
• Masking: SINGLE
• Who Masked: OUTCOMES ASSESSOR
• Purpose: PREVENTION
• Intervention Model: PARALLEL
• Sponsor Type: OTHER
• Responsible Party: SPONSOR

Model Details: Interventional (Clinical trial)

Study Record Dates

• First Submitted: March 23, 2021
• First Posted: March 30, 2021
• Study Start: December 16, 2020
• Primary Completion: May 27, 2021
• Study Completion: June 16, 2021
• Last Updated: October 11, 2021

Record last verified: 2021-10

Locations

ES (1)