IAmHero: Preliminary Findings of an Experimental Study to Evaluate the Statistical Significance of an Intervention for ADHD Conducted through the Use of Serious Games in Virtual Reality

Abstract

The use of new technologies, such as virtual reality (VR), represents a promising strategy in the rehabilitation of subjects with attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). We present the results obtained by administering the IAmHero tool through VR to a cohort of subjects with ADHD between 5 and 12 years of age. The trial time was approximately 6 months. In order to assess the beneficial effects of the treatment, standardised tests assessing both ADHD symptoms and executive functions (e.g., Conners-3 scales) were administered both before and at the end of the sessions. Improvements were observed at the end of treatment in both ADHD symptoms (especially in the hyperactivity/impulsivity domain) and executive functions. One of the strengths of the VR approach is related above all to the acceptability of this tool and its flexibility. Unfortunately, to date, there are still few studies on this topic; therefore, future studies are essential to expand our knowledge on the utility and benefits of these technologies in the rehabilitation field.

VR Gaming for Meta-Skills Training in Special Education: The Role of Metacognition, Motivations, and Emotional Intelligence

“…A significant improvement was observed in social interactions. Players were more able to deal with social anxiety and sensory hypersensitivity [91]. Their behaviors were significantly more flexible not only in the gaming environment, but also in real life [92,93,95].…”

“…They were given VRG therapy with the IAmHero system, and this was alternated with traditional therapies. The use of the VRG on a group of children with ADHD aged 5 to 12 revealed improvements in the basic indicators of self-control and positive behavior change [91].…”

“…Their thinking abilities were also more flexible [85,89]. It is notable that positive feelings increased, resulting in an increased motivation to continue practice [78,86,87,90,91].…”

“…VRGs were found to improve executive functions, which is an indicator of selfcontrol [91]. A serious VR game was structured around activities that aimed to train the cognitive-behavioral skills that are impaired in ADHD subjects.…”

The Effectiveness of Serious Games as Digital Therapeutics for Enhancing the Abilities of Children with ADHD: A Systematic Literature Review (Preprint)

“…Among these games, 45% (10/22) of the studies focused on using carefully crafted game rules to promote attention [35][36][37][38][39][40][41][42][43][44]. And 36% (8/22) of the studies concentrated on attentional training utilizing various technologies [45][46][47][48][49][50][51][52]. Specifically, six studies employed EEG headsets to capture brainwave data for observing attention levels [44,[49][50][51][52]56], and 2 of these used attention levels, as measured by the Brain-Computer Interface (BCI), to control gameplay [50,52].…”