Clinical trial NCT04698577: Evaluation of a School-Based Attention Training Programme for Improving Concentration
Official title: Evaluation of a School-Based Attention Training Programme for Improving Sustained Attention: A Cluster Randomised Pilot Study
Study type: INTERVENTIONAL
Overall status: COMPLETED
Phase: NA
Conditions: Attention Concentration Difficulty
Keywords: Attention training
Cognitive training
Attention
Sustained attention
Working memory
School intervention
Children
Lead sponsor: University of Limerick
Sponsor class: OTHER
Collaborators: name: Irish Research Council
First posted: 2021-01-07
Enrollment: 36
Sex: ALL
Minimum age (years): 9
Maximum age (years): 11
Standard ages: CHILD
Accepts healthy volunteers: no
Allocation: RANDOMIZED
Intervention model: PARALLEL
Intervention model description: This is a two arm, single-blind, pilot cluster randomised study. Participants were randomly allocated to the attention training group or active control group based on class groups (three class groups of fourth-class students and one class group of fifth-class students).
Primary purpose: TREATMENT

Brief summary: This study evaluates a school-based attention training programme for improving sustained attention in children.

Detailed description: Sustained attention is an elementary attentional function that is essential for effective learning and functioning in school. Poor sustained attention is a relatively common problem in childhood with as many as 24% of children exhibiting frequent inattention. Children with attentional difficulties are at increased risk for a variety of negative educational outcomes, including lower standardised grades, dropping out of school and repeating a year. This evidence highlights the need to develop interventions aimed at enhancing students' sustained attention capacity. Current school-based interventions for student attention problems include intervention strategies targeting behavioural, academic and self-regulation. However, none of these interventions aim to enhance attentional capacity. Attention network training (or attention training) has been identified as a potentially promising intervention for enhancing attentional capacity. This pilot study aimed to evaluate the preliminary efficacy of a theory-driven attention training programme, Keeping Score!, in improving students' capacity to sustain attention in a school setting. Training was based on sustained updating. Children engaged this process by mentally keeping score during an interactive face-to-face game without external aids. The study used a cluster randomised design. Students (N = 36) were assigned based on their class group to either the 6-week attention training programme (n = 18) or an active control (n = 18). Outcome measures were assessed at baseline, immediately after training and an approximate 6-week follow up.

Eligibility criteria: Inclusion Criteria:

* 4th and 5th class students
* aged 9 to 11 years
* parent consent and participant assent

Exclusion Criteria:

-

Primary outcomes:
measure: Change in scores on the Vigil subtest of the Test of Everyday Attention for Children - Second Edition (TEA-Ch2).
timeFrame: Baseline (pre-training), post-training at approximately 6 weeks after baseline and study completion at approximately 12 weeks after baseline.
measure: Change in scores on the Cerberus subtest of the Test of Everyday Attention for Children - Second Edition (TEA-Ch2).
timeFrame: Baseline (pre-training), post-training at approximately 6 weeks after baseline and study completion at approximately 12 weeks after baseline.
measure: Change in scores on the Sustained Attention to Response Task (SART) subtest of the Test of Everyday Attention for Children - Second Edition (TEA-Ch2).
timeFrame: Baseline (pre-training), post-training at approximately 6 weeks after baseline and study completion at approximately 12 weeks after baseline.
Secondary outcomes:
measure: Change in scores on the Digit Span Backwards subtest of the Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Children - Fifth Edition (WISC-V).
timeFrame: Baseline (pre-training), post-training at approximately 6 weeks after baseline and study completion at approximately 12 weeks after baseline.
measure: Change in scores on the Operation Span subtest of the Adaptive Composite Complex Span (ACCES).
timeFrame: Baseline (pre-training), post-training at approximately 6 weeks after baseline and study completion at approximately 12 weeks after baseline.
measure: Change in scores using the Symmetry Span subtest of the Adaptive Composite Complex Span (ACCES).
timeFrame: Baseline (pre-training), post-training at approximately 6 weeks after baseline and study completion at approximately 12 weeks after baseline.
measure: Change in scores on the Digit Span Forward subtest of the Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Children - Fifth Edition (WISC-V).
timeFrame: Baseline (pre-training), post-training at approximately 6 weeks after baseline and study completion at approximately 12 weeks after baseline.
measure: Change in parent ratings of executive function behaviour on the Behaviour Rating Inventory of Executive Function - Second Edition (BRIEF-2).
timeFrame: Baseline (pre-training), post-training at approximately 6 weeks after baseline and study completion at approximately 12 weeks after baseline.
Other outcomes:
Locations:
city: Limerick
country: Ireland
facility: Department of Psychology, University of Limerick
Study officials:
affiliation: University of Limerick
name: Eadaoin J Slattery, M.Sc.
role: PRINCIPAL_INVESTIGATOR
affiliation: University College Dublin / University of Limerick
name: Laura P McAvinue, PhD
role: STUDY_DIRECTOR
affiliation: University of Limerick
name: Patrick Ryan, D.Clin.Psych
role: STUDY_DIRECTOR
affiliation: University of Limerick
name: Donal G Fortune, PhD
role: STUDY_DIRECTOR
References:
citation: Gonthier C, Aubry A, Bourdin B. Measuring working memory capacity in children using adaptive tasks: Example validation of an adaptive complex span. Behav Res Methods. 2018 Jun;50(3):910-921. doi: 10.3758/s13428-017-0916-4.
citation: Dopfner M, Breuer D, Wille N, Erhart M, Ravens-Sieberer U; BELLA study group. How often do children meet ICD-10/DSM-IV criteria of attention deficit-/hyperactivity disorder and hyperkinetic disorder? Parent-based prevalence rates in a national sample--results of the BELLA study. Eur Child Adolesc Psychiatry. 2008 Dec;17 Suppl 1:59-70. doi: 10.1007/s00787-008-1007-y.
citation: DuPaul GJ, Gormley MJ, Laracy SD. School-based interventions for elementary school students with ADHD. Child Adolesc Psychiatr Clin N Am. 2014 Oct;23(4):687-97. doi: 10.1016/j.chc.2014.05.003. Epub 2014 Aug 1.
citation: Tang YY, Posner MI. Attention training and attention state training. Trends Cogn Sci. 2009 May;13(5):222-7. doi: 10.1016/j.tics.2009.01.009. Epub 2009 Apr 16.