Background and objectives

In the clinical setting, a large proportion of children with an autism spectrum disorder (ASD) experience impairing anxiety symptoms. Recently, an applied videogame called Mindlight has been developed that focuses on decreasing anxiety in children. The present study involved a randomized controlled trial (RCT) investigating the effect of Mindlight on (sub)clinical anxiety symptoms in children with an ASD.

Methods

In total, 109 children of 8–16 years old with an ASD and (sub)clinical anxiety symptoms were randomly assigned to the experimental (N = 53) or the control (N = 56) condition. Children in the experimental condition played Mindlight, children in the control condition played a commercial game (Triple Town) for 1 h per week, for six consecutive weeks. All children and parents completed assessments at baseline, post-intervention and 3-months follow-up.

Results

Results showed no differences in decrease of child-rated anxiety symptoms between both conditions. However, the decrease of parent-rated anxiety symptoms was significantly larger in the experimental condition.

Limitations

Mechanisms of change associated with treatment outcomes were not investigated in the present study. Therefore, it remains unclear which specific or non-specific factors contributed to the decrease in anxiety symptoms in both conditions.

Conclusions

The present study provided some preliminary evidence that video games are a promising new intervention vehicle for children with an ASD and anxiety, at least according to parents. However, further research on working mechanisms is needed, in order to specify to what extent and for which children with ASD Mindlight could be an effective anxiety treatment.

中文翻译：

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视频游戏“Mindlight”对自闭症谱系障碍儿童焦虑的影响：一项随机对照试验。

背景和目标

在临床环境中，很大一部分患有自闭症谱系障碍 (ASD) 的儿童会出现焦虑症状。最近，开发了一种名为Mindlight的应用电子游戏，专注于减少儿童的焦虑。本研究涉及一项随机对照试验 (RCT)，调查Mindlight对 ASD 儿童（亚）临床焦虑症状的影响。

方法

总共有 109 名患有 ASD 和（亚）临床焦虑症状的 8-16 岁儿童被随机分配到实验 (N = 53) 或对照 (N = 56) 条件。实验条件下的孩子玩Mindlight，控制条件下的孩子每周玩商业游戏（Triple Town）1小时，连续六周。所有儿童和家长在基线、干预后和 3 个月的随访时完成了评估。

结果

结果显示两种情况下儿童焦虑症状的减少没有差异。然而，在实验条件下，父母评定的焦虑症状的减少幅度要大得多。

限制

本研究未调查与治疗结果相关的变化机制。因此，目前尚不清楚哪些特定或非特定因素导致两种情况下焦虑症状的减少。

结论

目前的研究提供了一些初步证据，表明视频游戏是一种很有前途的新干预工具，可以帮助患有 ASD 和焦虑症的儿童，至少在父母看来是这样。然而，需要进一步研究工作机制，以明确 ASD Mindlight儿童在何种程度上和哪些情况下可以有效地治疗焦虑症。