“THE SECRET TRAIL OF MOON (TSTM)”: Proof of concept and usability of a virtual reality chess gamified serious video game to treat ADHD. (Preprint)
BACKGROUND Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) affects between 4% and 8% of children worldwide. The treatment of choice is multimodal treatment. Unfortunately, multimodal treatment is usually insufficient to fully correct ADHD. Accordingly, the incorporation of new treatments such as serious video games may be a good strategy. Here, we present a Virtual Reality (VR) chess-based serious video game (“The Secret Trail of Moon”, TSTM), which was specifically designed to treat core ADHD symptoms and executive dysfunction. OBJECTIVE This study aims to describe the development, proof of concept and usability of TSTM. METHODS We included information about: 1) a brief market study (n=56) over the potential interest of professionals in using a serious video game such as TSTM, and 2) a proof-of-concept and usability study including 37 children and adolescents who tested the initial versions of TSTM during an ongoing randomized controlled clinical trial testing the effectiveness of TSTM. RESULTS Eighty-six percent and 83% of participants liked and would like to continue playing TSTM, respectively. Thirteen and nine-tenths percent were reported to have either perceived dizziness or VR motion sickness. We found no statistically significant differences after comparing either ADHD combined vs. inattentive subtypes or frequent vs. infrequent video game players. Furthermore, wearing glasses did not affect our results. CONCLUSIONS Serious video games such as TSTM may help educational and medical professionals to either diagnose or treat ADHD. TSTM, a VR chess gamified serious video game was well-tolerated and most participants liked and wanted to continue playing TSTM. CLINICALTRIAL ClinicalTrials.gov NCT04355065; https://clinicaltrials.gov/ct2/show/NCT04355065