A Parent-child Yoga Intervention for Reducing Attention Deficits in Children with Congenital Heart Disease: a Feasibility Study Prior to a Randomised Controlled Trial
试验速览
- 阶段
- 不适用
- 状态
- 招募中
- 发起方
- 入组人数
- 24
- 试验地点
- 4
- 主要终点
- Recruitment rate
研究概览
简要总结
The proposed study aims to determine the feasibility of the procedures for a future full randomized controlled trial (RCT), which will test the efficacy of a parent-child yoga intervention in reducing attention deficits in children with congenital heart disease (CHD). Specific aims of this single-blind, two-arm, two-center feasibility trial are to evaluate recruitment rates and capacity, withdrawal and dropout rates, adherence to the intervention, acceptability of the randomization process by families, variation in delivery of the intervention between yoga instructors, and standard deviation of main outcomes of the future RCT in order to determine its appropriate sample size. This feasibility study will lead to the first ever RCT to test the efficacy of an intervention strategy for reducing attention deficits in children with CHD. Ultimately, the implementation of this parent-child yoga program will lead to better long-term academic and psychosocial functioning and quality of life for these children and their family.
详细描述
Context
Congenital heart disease (CHD) is the most common structural birth defect, affecting up to 1% of newborns. Half of children with CHD present neurodevelopmental impairments, including significant attention deficits. Compared to the general population, they are at 2.5 to 4 times greater risk for attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). Despite the high prevalence of these disabilities, very little interest has been given to the design and implementation of CHD-specific interventions for improving attention. In fact, only one randomised controlled trial (RCT) aimed at improving cognition in adolescents with CHD and revealed promising results for attention and inhibitory control. To date, no RCT aiming to improve attention has been conducted in young children with CHD, although attention has been strongly associated with school readiness and can predict academic skills. Yet, a rich literature supports the notion that early intervention is key to ensure success in the crucial first years of education. There is emerging evidence from RCTs indicating that parent-child yoga interventions improve attention and reduce ADHD symptoms in both typically developing and clinical populations. However, no studies have tested this promising approach in children with CHD although these children have their own challenges. Our ultimate goal is to test the efficacy of a parent-child yoga intervention to reduce attention deficits in children with CHD at school entry. Before launching a full RCT involving multiple sites across Canada, we propose to conduct the 2-site Yoga for Little Hearts feasibility study, which is a necessary and critical step to ensure future assessment and implementation of our parent-child yoga intervention program. Results from this feasibility study will allow us to optimize the subsequent large-scale RCT by preventing procedural and methodological issues.
Aims and hypotheses
The principal objectives of the proposed feasibility study are to evaluate: 1) recruitment rates and capacity; 2) retention, dropout and withdrawal rates during the 8-week parent-child yoga program and at 6-month follow-up; 3) adherence to the intervention; 4) acceptability of the randomisation process by families; 5) heterogeneity in the delivery of the intervention between yoga instructors, and use of home-based exercise between participants; 6) proportion of missing data in the standardized neurodevelopmental assessment instruments and parental questionnaires, and 7) standard deviation of primary outcomes of the full RCT in order to determine an appropriate sample size for the future full trial.
Following this feasibility study, we plan to conduct a full RCT including multiple centers aiming to test the efficacy of our 8-week parent-child yoga intervention in addition to the standard clinical care vs. standard clinical care alone in reducing attention deficits in 4-to-6-year-olds with CHD immediately and 6 months post-intervention.
研究设计
- 研究类型
- Interventional
- 分配方式
- Randomized
- 干预模型
- Parallel
- 主要目的
- Supportive Care
- 盲法
- Double (Investigator, Outcomes Assessor)
盲法说明
The intervention team including the research coordinator will not be blinded to intervention allocation. The primary and secondary outcomes of the full trial will be assessed by a research assistant who is not part of the intervention and who will be blinded to intervention allocation. Data will be anonymised, and data quality control will be conducted by staff blinded to the intervention group. The intervention team will be blinded to the initial level of attention functioning. There will be no interference with standard clinical care. All clinical follow-up, therapies and learning-support services received as part of the standard clinical care will be documented in the electronic case report form. Due to the nature of the intervention, participants and their parents will not be blinded.
入排标准
- 年龄范围
- 4 Years 至 6 Years（Child）
- 性别
- All
- 接受健康志愿者
- 否
入选标准
- •To be eligible for the study, children need to meet the following inclusion criteria:
- •diagnosis of CHD requiring heart surgery;
- •aged 4 to 6 years old;
- •poor attentional skills measured with Variability score (0.5 standard deviation below norms) at the Kiddie Conners Continuous Performance Test, 2nd Edition (K-CPT2), a sensitive measure for attentional impairments. This inclusion criteria is important since yoga intervention has shown larger effects on attention in children with greater difficulties before the intervention;
- •parent willing to participate to the 8-week parent-child yoga intervention and the pre/post/6-month follow-up assessments;
- •for children with ADHD medication (approx. 5% of the 4-to-6-year-olds at our neurocardiac clinic), parent accept to temporary stop it to at least 48h prior to each assessment.
排除标准
- •will be the following:
- •having a medical contraindication to the practice of yoga;
- •confirmed diagnosis of severe developmental or intellectual delay that would prevent successful completion of the planned study testing;
- •presence of severe physical handicap that would preclude the child from participating in the yoga intervention without special adaptation;
- •families who do not speak French or English (less than 3% of families followed in our clinics);
- •children who have been engaged in a structured weekly yoga program for at least a month in the past year (based on our parents' poll, less than 5%). However, parents included could have past or actual experience in practicing yoga.
- •Eligibility will be determined:
- •by consulting the child's medical record;
- •during a child medical visit at one of the sites or a virtual visit with the research team by administering the K-CPT2.
结局指标
主要结局
Recruitment rate
时间窗: 2 months prior to the intervention.
The number of eligible participants contacted, the number of consents to participation and the duration of the recruitment for each of the two waves of recruitment.
Dropout and withdrawal rates
时间窗: The 8 weeks of the intervention.
The number of eligible participants contacted, the number of consents to participation and the duration of the recruitment for each of the two waves of recruitment.
Adherence
时间窗: The 8 weeks of the intervention.
Adherence will be assessed by recording the number of sessions attended by each participant during the 8-week program. Acceptable adherence will be defined as completion of a minimum of 6/8 in-person yoga sessions otherwise the participant will be excluded from the analyses (withdrawals). Moreover, every week, parents will be asked to complete an at-home yoga exercise logbook to track the completion of yoga home practice and information will be collated at the end of the program.
Missing data assessment
时间窗: 2 weeks following each wave of assessments (T0, T1, T2).
The missing data will be collected at the end of each neurodevelopmental assessment session by going through all questionnaires completed by the parent. The reasons why the parent did not answer all the questions will be discussed and collected, and the assessment and questionnaires at which the missing data occurred will be noted in the feasibility form.
Acceptability of the randomisation process
时间窗: Months prior to the intervention.
The number of refusals to enrol because of randomisation to intervention will be documented.
Standard deviations of the main outcome to be evaluated in the full RCT
时间窗: 2 weeks following the post-intervention wave of assessments (T1).
The Variability score from the K-CPT2 is the main outcome of the future RCT. This data from the feasibility study will allow us to calculate the required standard deviation to be considered in the future RCT in accordance with the minimally clinical important difference (MCID) that should be measured between T0 and T1 for the yoga group.
Variation in delivery of the intervention
时间窗: The 8 weeks of the intervention.
To document the variation between yoga instructors and sites, the instructors will complete an intervention logbook after each session checking all planned steps and exercises that have been completed and detailing all protocol deviations and their reasons. At the end of the 8-week program, the number of deviations, the moments and the groups in which they occurred, and their reasons will be documented in the feasibility form.
次要结局
未报告次要终点
研究者
Anne Gallagher
Researcher and clinical neuropsychologist
St. Justine's Hospital