Chess Training as add-on Intervention for Adolescents With Psychiatric and Psychosomatic Disorders

NCT05698615 | Completed

• 1 other identifier: 2021-593
• Study Type: interventional
• Target: 59
• Locations: 1 country
• Sites: 1

Brief Summary

In the planned study, the effect of chess training on the cognitive abilities of children and adolescents with psychiatric and psychosomatic illnesses will be investigated in a naturalistic setting. Furthermore, the effects on therapy success and quality of life will be determined.Despite the thoroughly positive results, CRT has not yet been included in the official guidelines as an intervention in standard therapy; this is due, among other things, to too few studies and too little knowledge in the field of child and adolescent psychiatry. The planned study aims to fill the research gap in the field of chess training as an adjunctive intervention in children and adolescents and to provide further evidence on the relevance of CRT in child and adolescent psychiatry. The hypotheses of the proposed study are:

1. 1.chess training as a six-week add-on intervention will improve cognitive functioning in adolescents with psychiatric/psychosomatic disorders compared to standard treatment.
2. 2.chess training as a six-week add-on intervention improves quality of life in adolescents with psychiatric/psychosomatic disorders compared to standard treatment.
3. 3.chess training as a six-week add-on intervention positively influences the course of therapy in adolescents with psychiatric/psychosomatic illnesses compared to standard treatment.

Conditions

Children and Adolescents Inpatient in Psychiatric Hospital

Keywords

cognitive remediation; Chess training; working memory; decision making; executiv control; chess; cognitive change; Quality of life in adolescents

Outcome Measures

Primary Outcomes (10)

• Change in comorbidities

  Youth Self Report (YSR, Achenbach 1991b)

  2 time points: before and after 6 weeks chess training

• Change in depressive symptoms

  Beck Depression Inventory II (BDI-II, Beck, Steer, Brown 1996)

  2 time points: before and after 6 weeks chess training

• Change in anxiety symptoms

  Beck Anyxiety Inventory (BAI, deutsche Version Margraf, Ehlers 2007)

  2 time points: before and after 6 weeks chess training

• Change in Quality of life

  The KIDSCREEN Group Europe. (2006).

  2 time points: before and after 6 weeks chess training

• Change of the overall functional level

  Global assessment of functioning (Diagnostic screening measure according to DSM-IV)

  2 time points: before and after 6 weeks chess training

• Change in mental flexibility

  Dimensional Card Sorting Task (Zelazo et al., 2014

  2 time points: before and after 6 weeks chess training

• Change in attentional capacity

  d2 Test of Attention (Brickenkamp 2002)

  2 time points: before and after 6 weeks chess training

• Change in Reaction inhibition

  Go-No-Go Task (Sebastian et al., 2013)

  2 time points: before and after 6 weeks chess training

• Change in Fluid intelligence

  Stop Signal Task (Sebastian et al., 2013)

  2 time points: before and after 6 weeks chess training

• Change in reaction time

  Simple Reaction Time Task (Woods, Wyma, Yund, Herron, \& Reed, 2015)

  2 time points: before and after 6 weeks chess training

Study Arms (2)

Chess training group

EXPERIMENTAL

group receiving additional chess training

Behavioral: Chess training

control group

NO INTERVENTION

group receiving standard therapy only

Interventions

Chess training BEHAVIORAL

The chess training, which takes place as a measure for CRT with the children and adolescents, is carried out by the concept of the Munich Chess Academy. The concept applied here, "Chess according to the King's Plan", represents a holistic concept. Especially prepared for children and adolescents, theoretical aspects are illustrated in games and exercises.

Chess training group

Eligibility Criteria

• Age: 13 Years - 17 Years
• Sex: all
• Healthy Volunteers: No
• Age Groups: Child (0-17)

You may qualify if:

• Inpatient treatment at the Clinic for Psychiatry and Psychotherapy of Childhood and Adolescence, ZI Mannheim
• Age between 13 and 17 years
• Sufficient ability to answer questions verbally and in written form
• Ability to give consent by patients and their parents after detailed verbal and written explanation
• Consent of patients and parents must be given in paper form

You may not qualify if:

• Date of inpatient admission more than 3 weeks ago
• Withdrawal of informed consent
• Severe psychiatric, neurological and internal medical comorbidities

Sponsors & Collaborators

• Central Institute of Mental Health, Mannheim: lead
• Munich Chess academy: collaborator

Study Sites (1)

Central Institute of Mental Health

Mannheim, Germany

Location

Study Design

• Study Type: interventional
• Phase: not applicable
• Allocation: NON RANDOMIZED
• Masking: NONE
• Purpose: TREATMENT
• Intervention Model: PARALLEL
• Sponsor Type: OTHER
• Responsible Party: SPONSOR

Model Details: After inclusion in the study, participation in chess training begins after screening. Patients who have volunteered for chess training are then matched with patients for the comparison group. Care is taken to ensure that this group is similar to the chess group in terms of diagnoses and age ("pairwise matching").

Study Record Dates

• First Submitted: December 30, 2022
• First Posted: January 26, 2023
• Study Start: October 1, 2022
• Primary Completion: June 30, 2024
• Study Completion: June 30, 2024
• Last Updated: May 1, 2025

Record last verified: 2025-04

Locations

DE (1)