Effects of Cooperative, Competitive, and Solitary Exergames on Cognition and Anxiety Levels in Children with Developmental Disabilities.

Abstract

Objective: Exergames are playing an important role in person-centered therapy, health care services, and in the rehabilitation field. This study aimed to compare the effects of cooperative, competitive, and solitary exergames on cognition and anxiety levels in children with developmental disabilities (DD). Materials and Methods: This study was a randomized controlled trial pretest-posttest including 36 children with DD who were allocated to the cooperative exergame group (CGG), competitive exergame group (CmGG), and solitary exergame group (SGG). The exergame program was performed two times a week for 8 weeks and the outcome measurements were conducted before and after the program. A paired sample t-test and one-way analysis of variance (ANOVA) were used to analyze the changes within and between the groups. Results: The result indicated a significant improvement in memory, attention, and visual perception in all groups; the CGG and CmGG showed a high increase in attention compared with the SGG. However, only the CGG presented a significant improvement in the language subscale. In terms of anxiety, only the CGG presented substantial improvements in all anxiety subscales. The CmGG showed improvement in social phobia and the SGG in physical injury fears, social phobia, and general anxiety fears. Conclusion: The findings suggest that cooperative and competitive exergames may be used to effectively improve cognitive functions; cooperative exergames can be applied as the most effective method to reduce anxiety compared with the other game types for children with DD.