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Completed

NCT Number: NCT04823338

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

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).

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Key information

Conditions

Cognitive Change Child Development

Age range

6 year–12 year

Sex eligibility

All sexes

Study type

Interventional

Phase

Not applicable

Primary location

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

Lleida, 25001, Spain

About this study

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.

Who can participate

Healthy volunteers accepted: Yes

Only the study team can determine whether someone qualifies for participation.

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

Treatment and study plan

Conectar Jugando Online Program

Behavioral

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

Other names: Modern board and card games

Primary outcomes

  1. Change in verbal updating from baseline to post intervention

    Time frame: Baseline and post intervention (after 6 weeks)

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

  2. Change in visuospatial updating from baseline to post intervention

    Time frame: Baseline and post intervention (after 6 weeks)

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

  3. Change in inhibition from baseline to post intervention

    Time frame: Baseline and post intervention (after 6 weeks)

    5 digits test (Sedó, 2004)

  4. Change in cognitive flexibility from baseline to post intervention

    Time frame: Baseline and post intervention (after 6 weeks)

    5 digits test (Sedó, 2004)

  5. Change in reasoning from baseline to post intervention

    Time frame: Baseline and post intervention (after 6 weeks)

    TONI-4 (Ruíz-Fernández, 2019)

  6. Change in verbal fluency from baseline to post intervention

    Time frame: Baseline and post intervention (after 6 weeks)

    Phonological and semantic fluency (letter M and animals, ENFEN, Portellano & Martínez-Arias, R. Zumárraga, 2009)

Secondary outcomes

  1. Change in behavioral executive functions from baseline to post intervention

    Time frame: Baseline and post intervention (after 6 weeks)

    ATENTO (Luque & Sánchez-Sánchez, 2019)

  2. Change in emotional and behavioral problems from baseline to post intervention

    Time frame: 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 outcomes

  1. Time spent on less-structured activities

    Time frame: 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.

  2. Player satisfaction

    Time frame: 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)

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

    Time frame: Baseline

    Hollingshead Index (Hollingshead, 1975)

  4. Parent Play Beliefs

    Time frame: 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.

Sponsors and collaborators

Lead sponsor

Brain In Game scientific-technical service

Other

Collaborators

  • Atención, Familia, Infancia, Mayores (AFIM21)
  • Mercurio Distribuciones

Registry information

Official study 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

Acronym: CJ-Online

Important dates

Study start
2020
Primary completion
2021
Study completion
2021
First posted
Mar 30, 2021
Registry last updated
Oct 11, 2021

OpenTrials presents study information sourced from ClinicalTrials.gov. The official registry record should be consulted for the latest information.

View the official ClinicalTrials.gov record (opens in a new tab)

This listing is for discovery and informational purposes only. It is not medical advice, does not guarantee that a study is recruiting, and does not determine eligibility. Contact the study team and a qualified healthcare professional when considering participation.

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