The Comparison Gender-Based Effectiveness of Computer-Assisted Cognitive Rehabilitation on the Impulse Control and Behavioral Difficulties among Students with Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder

 Some studies have shown that there are differences between boys and girls in the symptoms of attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). This study aimed to evaluate the effectiveness of computer-assisted cognitive rehabilitation on impulse control and behavioral difficulty of students with ADHD and compare it in girls and boys.

 This research is a quasi-experimental study. Participants were 24 students with ADHD (12 boys and 12 girls) studying in the sixth to ninth grades during 2018-19 at schools located in the District 7th of Tehran, Iran. They were selected by purposive sampling method based on inclusion/exclusion criteria and then randomly assigned to experimental and control groups. The data instrument was the Difficulties in Emotion Regulation Scale (DERS) completed at pretest and posttest. The experimental group received computer-assisted cognitive rehabilitation for 10 weeks (20 sessions, two sessions per week, each for 30 minutes). Data were analyzed using repeated measure ANCOVA and t-test in SPSS-26 software.

 Findings indicated that the impulse control and behavioral difficulty were significantly reduced in students with ADHD (P<0.05). Also, the rate of improvement was higher in boys than girls (p<0.05).

 Based on these findings, we conclude that computer-assisted cognitive rehabilitation can improve impulse control and behavioral difficulties in children with ADHD, especially in boys.