Effectiveness of Active Video Games in Children With Intellectual Disabilities

Summary

Background: Children with intellectual disabilities (ID) are more vulnerable to obesity when compared to the normal children (Getchell et al., 2012; Maiano, 2011). Active video games (AVGs) on physical activity (PA) behavior have attracted academic interest and exploration since 2000. It has been demonstrated that an intervention with AVGs is compatible with the school setting and behavioral change in health and PA (Lau, et al., 2015). However, special populations such as ID children and their needs have been neglected in this area (Martins, Carvalho \& Soares, 2011). ID children's PA behavior, motor ability and physical fitness is still an under-explored area.

Aims: To determine the effect of a prescribed AVG intervention on ID children's PA levels (sedentary, light, moderate, and vigorous), motor ability, and physical fitness. The intervention effects in children with mild intellectual disability will be explored.

Design: A standard two-arm parallel, single-blinded, randomized control cluster trial.

Schools: Participants will be recruited from six special schools in Hong Kong. Schools with same intellectual disability categories will be randomly assigned into intervention group and control group.

Participants: 200 Children aged 8\~18 years old with intellectual disabilities will be recruited.

Intervention: ID children randomized to the intervention group will participate in an AVG intervention 60 minutes per week for 12 weeks in their PE class, in addition to their usual activity levels. The research team will prescribe updated AVG consistent with moderate-vigorous intensity.

Control: The control group will continue with usual PA alone and will not receive the AVG intervention.

Analysis: Repeated measures mixed model (2 groups X 2 time points (12-week post- test and 8-week follow up test)) by SPSS 23.0 will be used to investigate the intervention effect on primary and secondary outcomes, adjusting for baseline characteristics and correlation between repeated observations.

Significance: This will be the pioneering study to provide definitive evidence for the impact of a prescribed AVG intervention on ID children's PA level, motor ability and physical fitness. If effective, this research will provide significant evidence from the innovative method to inform health professionals and PE teachers how to incorporate AVG to enhance physical active behaviors, motor ability and physical fitness in ID children. Finally they may be able to enjoy a better quality of life.

Conditions

• Intellectual Disability

Interventions

BEHAVIORAL

Intervention with active video games

Participants in intervention group were paired up by their teachers. Each participant had a classmate playing with him/her, and the waiting time is minimal because Xbox 360 Kinect allowed double play mode. The intervention group was provided with an AVG, the Xbox 360 Kinect technology (Kinect Sports Seasons I \& II, including bowling, soccer, boxing, track and field, table tennis, beach volleyball, golf, tennis). The AVG intervention consisted of two 30-min sessions per week, for a total of 12 weeks. Participants either played in PE classes and/or recess. They had no other specific routing of activities but straight played the AVG during the intervention. They could free to choose games they like in the Xbox 360. The AVGs of Xbox 360 chosen was of moderate to vigorous intensity (3-6 METs) and no matter what games they chose, their PA level would be between moderate and vigorous intensity.

Sponsors & Collaborators

• Research Grants Council, Hong Kong

  collaborator OTHER

• Hong Kong Baptist University

  lead OTHER

Principal Investigators

• Wing-Chung Lau, Ph.D · Hong Kong Baptist University

Study Design

Allocation

RANDOMIZED

Purpose

PREVENTION

Masking

SINGLE

Model

PARALLEL

Eligibility

Min Age

8 Years

Max Age

18 Years

Sex

ALL

Healthy Volunteers

No

Timeline & Regulatory

Start

2016-09-01

Primary Completion

2018-01-31

Completion

2018-08-31