The Impact of Short-Term Video Games on Performance among Children with Developmental Delays: A Randomized Controlled Trial

Abstract

This prospective, randomized controlled study investigated the effects of short-term interactive video game playing among children with developmental delays participating in traditional rehabilitation treatment at a rehabilitation clinic. One hundred and one boys and 46 girls with a mean age of 5.8 years (range: 3 to 12 years) were enrolled in this study. All patients were confirmed to suffer from developmental delays, and were participating in traditional rehabilitation treatment. Children participated in two periods of 4 weeks each, group A being offered intervention of eight 30-minute sessions of interactive video games in the first period, and group B in the second, in addition to the traditional rehabilitation treatment. The physical, psychosocial, and total health of the children was periodically assessed using the parent-reported Pediatric Quality of Life Inventory-Generic Core Scales (PedsQL); and the children's upper extremity and physical function, transfer and basic mobility, sports and physical functioning, and global functioning were assessed using the Pediatric Outcomes Data Collection Instrument. Parental impact was evaluated using the PedsQL-Family Impact Module for family function, PedsQL-Health Satisfaction questionnaire for parents' satisfaction with their children's care and World Health Organization-Quality of Life-Brief Version for quality of life. Compared with the baseline, significant improvements of physical function were observed in both groups (5.6 ± 19.5, p = 0.013; 4.7 ± 13.8, p = 0.009) during the intervention periods. No significant improvement of psychosocial health, functional performance, or family impact was observed in children with developmental delays. Short-term interactive video game play in conjunction with traditional rehabilitation treatment improved the physical health of children with developmental delays.

Trial registration: ClinicalTrials.gov NCT02184715.

Fig 1. Trial profile.

Fig 2. One example of the game playing “whack-a-mole”.

In this mole-themed version of “whack-a-mole”, a step-sensing pad is placed on the floor, and the participant treads on the pad as fast as possible when virtual moles randomly appear on the holes of the TV screen. The game has three difficulty levels (A). The higher the difficulty level is, the faster the moles appear, and the more moles appear simultaneously. Level I has one mole (B shows that the player failed to stomp the mole into the hole with his left foot; C shows the player successfully stomping the mole into the hole with his left foot), Level II has two moles, and Level III has three moles (D shows the player successfully stomping a mole with his right foot but failing to stomp another mole with his left foot). The score of successful stomps appears in the right bottom corner of the TV screen with auditory feedback, and the remaining time appears in the left bottom corner of the TV screen during play. After the game has finished, the final score appears on the screen (E).

Fig 3. The changes of PedsQL physical health summary scores associated with video game playing.

Solid square, Group A; solid triangle, Group B. Abbreviations: PedsQL, Pediatric Quality of Life Inventory-Generic Core Scales; t₀, before treatment; t₁, at the end of the first intervention during the fourth week; t₂, at the end of the second intervention during the eighth week. *p < 0.05; **p < 0.01.