Accepted for/Published in: JMIR Serious Games
Date Submitted: Mar 29, 2024
Date Accepted: Sep 17, 2024
Empowering Social Growth through Virtual Reality-Based Intervention for Children with Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder: A Three-Arm Randomized Controlled Trial
ABSTRACT
Background:
Attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) usually begins in childhood and may impair social functioning to some extent. Virtual reality (VR) could be an adjunctive tool to embed in social skills training to enhance the social skills of children with ADHD. This paper described VR-based social skills training for children with ADHD using a three-arm randomized controlled trial (RCT) approach.
Objective:
This study aims to enhance the social skills of children with ADHD by examining the feasibility and effectiveness of VR-based training in comparison to traditional social skills training.
Methods:
A total of 90 children with ADHD aged 6–12 were randomly assigned to three weeks of 12 sessions of social skills training in VR, traditional social skills training, or a waitlist control group of equivalent duration. A blind clinical psychologist and participants’ guardians assessed participants at baseline (T1) and post-treatment (T2).
Results:
The preliminary results support the feasibility and acceptability of VR training for children with ADHD aged 6–12 years. Analysis showed that the VR group and traditional social skills training group experienced a statistically significant improvement in the clinical psychologist assessment of social skills and parent-rated self-control, initiative, and emotional control at T2 compared with T1. The VR group performed significantly better than the traditional social skills group on social skills assessed by clinical psychologists (F = 76.77, p < .05) and on parent-rated self-control (F = 18.77, p < .05), initiative (F = 11.93, p < .05) and emotional control (F = 17.27, p < .05).
Conclusions:
Appropriate social skills can help children with ADHD develop healthy peer relationships as well as overall well-being. The promising results from this RCT suggested that VR-based intervention is effective in enhancing social skills and is highly acceptable in children with ADHD, although it can still be improved. Future research can build on these findings to optimize the use of VR for children with ADHD to practice social skills. Clinical Trial: ClinicalTrials.gov NCT05778526; https://clinicaltrials.gov/study/NCT05778526
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