Impact of body-oriented therapy on executive abilities in children with computer game addiction

Introduction It is known that children with computer game addiction have a risk for development of deficit in executive abilities. It is important to develop effective approaches for helping children with this addiction. Objectives The goal of this study was to reveal effect of body-oriented therapy on executive abilities in children with computer game addiction. Particularly we compared the efficacy of two methods of treatment (body-oriented therapy for children vs. conventional motor exercises) in a randomized controlled pilot study. Methods 16 7-year-old children with computer game addiction were included and randomly assigned to treatment conditions according to a 2×2 cross-over design. The body-oriented therapy included the exercises from yoga and breathing techniques. To assess the executive functions and attention in children we used 5 subtests from NEPSY (Tower, Auditory Attention and Response Set, Visual Attention, Statue, Design Fluency). Effects of treatment were analyzed by means of an ANOVA for repeated measurements. Results The ANOVA has revealed (p<.05) that for all 5 subtests on executive functions and attention the body-oriented therapy was superior to the conventional motor training, with effect sizes in the medium-to-high range (0.42-0.80). Conclusions The findings from this pilot study suggest that body-oriented therapy can effectively influence the executive abilities in children with computer game addiction. However, it is necessary to do further research into the impact of body-oriented therapies on children with this addiction.