Effect of comprehensive intervention on executive dysfunction in children with attention deficit and hyperactivity disorder aged 7-14 years / 中国学校卫生

ABSTRACT

Objective@#To analyze the improvement of executive function in children with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) aged 7-14 years with comprehensive intervention and drug therapy alone, to provide a basis for intervention research to improve ADHD.@*Methods@#A total of 80 children with ADHD treated in the Third People s Hospital of Ganzhou from January 2021 to June 2022 were randomly divided into intervention group and control group. The intervention group received drug and comprehensive intervention therapy, and sensory integration training once a week for 60 to 90 min each for 12 weeks, and conduct related training for caregivers and school teachers, the control group received only drug therapy. The changes of executive function were assessed by the stroop color word association test and the Wisconsin Card Sorting Test (WCST) after 12 weeks of intervention.@*Results@#After intervention, the results of the Stroop color word test in the intervention group (3.25±0.98, 4.92±1.40, 10.17±1.28) showed statistically significant differences ( t=12.94, 15.36, 26.34 , P <0.01) compared with those before intervention (6.47±1.92, 8.35±1.25, 16.55±1.57). There were also statistically significant differences ( t=6.76, 15.01, 16.15, P <0.01) in the control group ( 3.95 ±1.01, 5.45±1.15, 12.35±0.86) compared to those before intervention (6.17±1.87, 8.10±1.03, 16.02±1.38). Before intervention, the number of perseverative errors, non perseverative errors, and completed categories by WCST in the intervention group were (47.77±4.50, 35.50±2.37, 3.97±1.07), and in the control group were (46.45±7.34, 34.87±2.29, 3.70±1.11). After intervention, those of the intervention group and control group were (31.42±2.01, 24.75±2.05, 5.05±1.13) and (32.82±2.57, 25.55±1.04, 4.25±1.48), respectively. There were significant differences in the two groups before and after intervention ( t =21.93, 22.27 , -10.37; 10.84, 26.81, -6.90, P <0.01). After intervention, there were significant differences in the number of Stroop color word test errors, perseverative errors and non perseverative errors in WCST between the two groups ( t=-2.94, 2.29, -9.07, -2.35 , -2.06, P <0.05).@*Conclusion@#Through training for children and the therapy model of comprehensive intervention could significantly improve the executive function of children for a certain extent.