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

Study Overview
=================
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).

Detailed 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.

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

Conditions
-----------------
Cognitive Change, Child Development

Intervention / Treatment
-----------------
* Behavioral: Conectar Jugando Online Program


Participation Criteria
=================
Eligibility Criteria
-----------------
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

Ages Eligible for Study
-----------------
Minimum Age: 6 Years
Maximum Age: 12 Years

Sexes Eligible for Study
-----------------
All

Accepts Healthy Volunteers
-----------------
Accepts Healthy Volunteers

Study Plan
=================
How is the study designed?
-----------------

Design Details

Primary Purpose: Prevention
Allocation: Randomized
Intervention Model: Parallel Assignment
Interventional Model Description: Interventional (Clinical trial)
Masking: Single


Arms and Interventions

| Participant Group/Arm | Intervention/Treatment |
| --- | --- |
| Experimental: Conectar Jugando Online Program<br>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<br>* Online play sessions with modern board and card games guided by the study researchers<br>* Other names: Modern board and card games;|
| No Intervention: Wait-list group<br>Wait-list | |

What is the study measuring?
-----------------
Primary Outcome Measures

| Outcome Measure | Measure Description | Time Frame |
| --- | --- | --- |
| 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 Outcome Measures

| Outcome Measure | Measure Description | Time Frame |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Change in behavioral executive functions from baseline to post intervention | ATENTO (Luque & Sánchez-Sánchez, 2019) | Baseline and post intervention (after 6 weeks) | 
| 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) | 

 Terms related to the study
=================
Keywords Provided by Centre Hospitalier Valida
-----------------
cognitive training, school-age children, executive function, modern board and card games