The effectiveness of neurofeedback intervention on increasing cognitive skills in children with attention deficit/hyperactivity disorder

Neurofeedback therapy is considered as an alternative therapy for children with attention deficit / hyperactivity disorder which aims to optimize brain capabilities. The aim of this study was to evaluate the effectiveness of neurofeedback therapy intervention on increasing cognitive skills in children with attention deficit / hyperactivity disorder.

The present study was a quasi-experimental design with pre-test, post-test and follow-up design with experimental group and control group. The statistical population of 7-11-year-old students had symptoms of attention deficit / hyperactivity disorder in Mashhad. The sample consisted of 24 eligible individuals who volunteered to participate in the study in two groups of neurofeedback and control training. Neurofeedback training was performed in 36 sessions on the experimental group. The Connors Scale and Intelligence Test scales of Tehran-Stanford-Binet were used to collect information. Data analysis was performed by repeated measures test analysis using SPSS software version 23 (α = 0.05).

According to the results, the effect size of the sources of change in creating differences within the group (0.692), intergroup (0.213) and interaction (0.460) was p <0.05). In comparing the means of the experimental group with the control group, the mean of cognitive abilities in the intervention group was higher than the control group (P = 0.023).

According to the findings of this study, it is suggested to use the therapeutic approach of neurofeedback education to increase the cognitive abilities of children with attention deficit / hyperactivity disorder.