Evaluating the Effectiveness of Neurofeedback in Improving Attention and Response Control in Children with Attention -Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder

Attention -deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) is one of the most common psychiatric disorders that beg ins from infancy and continues until adulthood. It affects various aspects of a person's life, including personal life, social interactions, professional life, executive performances, concentration, etc. One of the relatively new viewpoints on ADHD disorder is to notice the neurological factors. In this viewpoint, the nervous system is an important and key factor in the incidence and progression of this disorder. One of the relatively new methods of treatment of this disorder which has designated several clinical confirmation trials is neurofeedback -based therapies. Neurofeedback is a conditioning procedure by which patients can modify the electrical activity of their brains. The goal of neurofeedback training is to correct abnormal EEGs, which results in improved behavioral and cognitive function in the individual. Neurofeedback therapy is a promising treatment based on normalizing the abnormal patterns of brain waves in children with ADHD. Therefore, this study aimed to evaluate the effectiveness of neurofeedback training in improving attention and response control of children with ADHD.

The method of the present study is quasi -experimental with a pretest -posttest design with a control group. The statistical population includes all 7 -14 years old students referred to Kerman’s Peyvand consultation center, Kerman City, Iran, in 2016 -2017. They were diagnosed with ADHD. The sample included 60 students, selected by a convenience sampling method and randomly assigned to control (n=30) and experimental groups (n=30). The inclusion criteria were diagnosis of ADHD, aged between 7 and 14 years, consent and formal approval of students' parents to participate in research, no comorbidity disorder with ADHD, IQ greater than 70 and no visual or auditory impairment. The exclusion criteria for the experimental group were the absence of more than five sessions from the intervention and the unwillingness to continue the treatment. In the pretest and posttest for two groups, the Computational version of Sandford and Turner's Integrated Visual and Auditory Test (1995) was run. Neurofeedback treatment sessions for experimental group were performed in 40 -45 -min sessions three days per week. No intervention was presented for the control group. Data analysis was performed at descriptive (frequency, average, standard deviation) and inferential levels (multivariate analysis of covariance) in SPSS software, version 16. The significance level of the tests was considered 0.05.

The results indicate that after the omission of the pretest effects on dependent variables and regarding the F factor obtained in the scale of auditory attention (p=0.001), visual attention (p=0.001), auditory response control (p=0.001) and visual response control (p=0.001) there was a statistically significant difference between the adjusted averages of the participants scores in two stages of pretest and posttest. Based on Eta coefficients, a greater rate of effect and difference were observed in the visual attention (equal to 51%).

According to the findings of this study, neurofeedback is an effective tool that can increase attention (visual and auditory) and response control (visual and auditory) of children with ADHD.