Adaptive Tele-Therapies Based on Serious Games for Health for People with Time-Management and Organisational Problems: Preliminary Results

Abstract

Attention Deficit with Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) is one of the most prevalent disorders within the child population today. Inattention problems can lead to greater difficulties in completing assignments, as well as problems with time management and prioritisation of tasks. This article presents an intelligent tele-therapy tool based on Serious Games for Health, aimed at the improvement of time management skills and the prioritisation of tasks. This tele-system is based on the use of decision trees within Django, a high-level Python Web framework. The technologies and techniques used were selected so as to boost user involvement and to enable the system to be easily customised. This article shows the preliminary results of the pilot-phase in an experiment performed to evaluate the use of adaptive tele-therapies within a group of typically developing children and adolescents aged between 12 and 19 years old without ADHD. To do so, we relied on the collection of parameters and the conduct of surveys for assessing time management skills, as well as measuring system usability and availability. The results of a time management survey highlighted that the users involved in the trial did not use any specific or effective time management techniques, scoring 1.98 and 2.30 out of 5 points in this area for ages under 15 and over 16 years old, respectively. The final calculations based on the usability questionnaire resulted in an average score of 78.75 out of 100. The creation of a customisable tool capable of working with different skills, in conjunction with the replication of the current study, may help to understand these users’ needs, as well as boosting time management skills among teenagers with and without ADHD.

What is the level of evidence for the use of currently available technologies in facilitating the self-management of difficulties associated with ADHD in children and young people? A systematic review

“…Reason for exclusion Barnett et al [86] Participants are teachers Benyakorn et al [87] Not interventional Bishop [88] Intervention not technology Bonarini et al [89] Population focus not ADHD Bul et al [90] Outcome measures do not assess ADHD-related difficulties Chan et al [91] Not interventional Chen et al [92] Not interventional Christiansen et al [93] Intervention reliant on others Dale and Grut [94] Not exclusively for ADHD Duffy [95] Population focus not ADHD Enebrink et al [96] Population focus not ADHD References Reason for exclusion Epstein et al [97] Intervention reliant on health care professionals Fiellin et al [98] Population focus not ADHD Frutos-Pascual et al [99] Population focus not ADHD Frutos-Pascual and GarciaZapirain [100] Participants typically developing, not ADHD Gray et al [72] ADHD not primary diagnosis of participants Halperin et al [101] Intervention not technology Janeslätt et al [102] Intervention not technology Kim et al [103] Intervention not technology Lim et al [104] Intervention reliant on health care professionals Mazurek and Engelhardt [105] Not interventional Myers et al [106] Participants ADHD diagnosis not confirmed Nie et al [107] Intervention not technology Pandria et al [108] Not interventional Rohani et al [109] Participants ADHD diagnosis not confirmed Rosch and Mostofsky [110] Not interventional Schafer et al [111] Participants not received ADHD diagnosis Schuck et al [112] Participants not received ADHD diagnosis Shah et al 2012 Not interventional Silva et al [113] Technology as outcome measure, not intervention Steeger et al 2016 Participants ADHD diagnosis not confirmed Stephenson [114] Population focus not ADHD Tse et al …”

Conceptual Model for Serious Games Design: Case Study of Children with Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder

“…En este sentido, los investigadores han propuesto intervenciones a través de actividades gamificadas estructuradas [22][23][24][25]. Ellos han podido comprobar un desarrollo significativo en terapias basadas en SGs.…”

A natural user interface game for the evaluation of children with learning difficulties

“…Their results showed that children improved their performance on reading when educational games were in effect. Frutos-Pascual et al [33] used serious games for children and adults with time management and organisational problems. Cassar and Jang [34] investigated the effects of using a game-based instructional approach to improve word recognition and spelling with children diagnosed with reading difficulties and ADHD.…”