Immersive Gamified Virtual Reality-Based Training for Children With Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder

Conditions

• ADHD
• Social Skills

Eligibility Criteria

Sex

ALL

Age

6 Years - 12 Years

Healthy Volunteers

Accepted

Interventions

• Immersive gamified virtual reality-based training (iGameVRT) — BEHAVIORAL
  The immersive gamified virtual reality training intervention provides children with repeated practice in coding and interpreting social cues within a controlled and safe environment. The intervention includes immediate feedback and reinforcement mechanisms, enabling children to refine their responses effectively. The virtual reality environment is designed with social challenges of varying complexities, allowing children to play and learn engagingly.
• Traditional social skills training — BEHAVIORAL
  Social skills training integrates cognitive restructuring to address underlying thoughts and beliefs, alongside behaviour modification strategies to build and strengthen social skills.

Study Details

This study evaluates a gamified virtual reality (VR) training program designed to help children with ADHD. Participants will be randomly assigned to one of three groups: the VR training group, a traditional training group, or a waitlist group. Children in both training groups will complete 12 sessions over three weeks. To measure the program's effectiveness, researchers will test all participants four times: before the study starts, immediately after the training ends, and at 3-month and 6-month follow-ups. Finally, children from the VR group will be interviewed after the 6-month check-in to share their experiences, including the benefits and challenges they encountered.

Key Dates

First listed

Aug 25, 2026

Start date

Jan 2, 2027

Status verified

Aug 2026

Primary completion

Jun 30, 2028

Completion

Aug 30, 2028

Study Design

Enrollment

120 participants (estimated)

Allocation

RANDOMIZED

Intervention model

PARALLEL

Primary purpose

SUPPORTIVE_CARE

Arms

• Experimental: Virtual reality-based intervention (iGameVRT)
  The participants will wear a head-mounted display (HMD) for the iGameVRT. Each session of the iGameVRT intervention lasts for a maximum of 20 minutes to ensure the participants focus on the intervention and prevent causing any physical effect. The duration will be adjusted depending on the emotion of the participants during the intervention. The iGameVRT intervention will mainly help the participant enhance their social interaction skills and executive function. The intervention contains three real-life virtual scenarios, including (1) classroom and playground, (2) MTR station and compartment, and (3) supermarket. One scenario will be adopted in each session. The sequences of the scenarios used in each session will be the same for all participants.
• Active Comparator: Traditional social skills training
  A teacher will teach the participants social interaction skills through tradidactic instructions and role-play activities. Four modules will be covered: (1) how to introduce yourself and basic social skills; (2) how to listen to others; (3) how to share with others; (4) learn to know how people feel and how to empathise. The content of this training will be as similar as possible to the iGameVRT. The training lasts 20 minutes which depends on the emotion of the participants. Each training session will be conducted in a classroom independently for each participant.
• No Intervention: Waitlist control
  The participants in this group will receive no training and they can participate in the social VR training after the intervention period.

Primary Outcome Measure

Social Skills [ Time Frame: Baseline, Immediate after study (3-week), 3-month follow-up, 6-month follow-up ]

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