A Pilot Controlled Trial of Relaxation Training Combined with a Video Game Reinforcing Emotional Regulation to Improve Anger Management in Children and Adolescents.

Autor: Vaudreuil C; Sage Therapeutics Inc, Cambridge, MA, USA., Abel MR; Child Cognitive Behavioral Therapy Program, Department of Psychiatry, Massachusetts General Hospital, 55 Fruit Street, Warren 719, Boston, MA, 02114, USA. mabel1@mgh.harvard.edu.; Department of Psychiatry, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, USA. mabel1@mgh.harvard.edu., Barnett Y; Pikeville Medical Center, Pikeville, KY, USA., DiSalvo M; Clinical and Research Programs in Pediatric Psychopharmacology and Adult ADHD, Massachusetts General Hospital, Boston, MA, USA., Hirshfeld-Becker DR; Child Cognitive Behavioral Therapy Program, Department of Psychiatry, Massachusetts General Hospital, 55 Fruit Street, Warren 719, Boston, MA, 02114, USA.; Department of Psychiatry, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, USA.
Jazyk: angličtina
Zdroj: Research on child and adolescent psychopathology [Res Child Adolesc Psychopathol] 2024 Dec; Vol. 52 (12), pp. 1847-1859. Date of Electronic Publication: 2024 Oct 23.
DOI: 10.1007/s10802-024-01259-w
Abstrakt: Untreated anger and aggression in youth confer heightened risk for subsequent psychosocial problems. However, engaging youth in treatment for anger can be difficult given barriers to accessing care and high rates of attrition. This study examined whether learning relaxation skills and practicing them using a videogame, whose operation was contingent upon keeping heart rate close to baseline levels, could help children learn to manage anger and aggression. Youth ages 7-17 with elevated levels of anger (N = 39) were randomized to receive the active video game condition or a control game that displayed heart rate but did not stop the game if heart rate became elevated. Youth underwent baseline screening, 6 treatment sessions, and follow-up assessments at 2-weeks and 3-months. Compared to the control condition, children in the active condition demonstrated significantly greater improvements in clinician-rated aggression severity (d = 1.48) and youth-rated emotion dysregulation (d = 3.46) at 2-weeks post-treatment. The active group maintained these improvements at 3-month follow-up, but no longer significantly differed from the control group. Intervention effects were nonsignificant for parent-reported emotion dysregulation and aggression. In addition, the intervention group youth, but not control group, experienced increased time with heart rate below baseline over the course of the 6 sessions. Findings suggest a promising brief intervention for reducing aggression and emotion dysregulation in children while they are waiting for longer-term outpatient therapy. Clinical Trial Registration Number: NCT03270813.
Competing Interests: Compliance with Ethical Standards. Competing Interests: The authors have no relevant financial or non-financial interests to disclose. The authors are not affiliated with and have no financial interests in Neuromotion or Mightier. Ethical Approval: All procedures performed in studies involving human participants were in accordance with the ethical standards of the institutional review board at Massachusetts General Hospital and conducted in accordance with the ethical standards of the American Psychological Association. Informed Consent: Informed consent was obtained from parents of all individual participants included in the study and assent was obtained from all child and adolescent participants.
(© 2024. The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer Science+Business Media, LLC, part of Springer Nature.)
Databáze: MEDLINE
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