The effect of game-based interventions on children and adolescents with autism spectrum disorder: A systematic review and meta-analysis
PurposeThe purpose of this meta-analysis was to conduct a comprehensive evaluation of randomized controlled trials (RCTs) of game-based interventions (GBI) for children and adolescents with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) to identify the clinical efficacy of GBI on core symptoms and other concomitant...
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Frontiers Media S.A.
2025-04-01
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| Series: | Frontiers in Pediatrics |
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| Online Access: | https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fped.2025.1498563/full |
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| author | Jiaxin Gao Jiaxin Gao Wei Song Dunbing Huang Anren Zhang Xiaohua Ke |
| author_facet | Jiaxin Gao Jiaxin Gao Wei Song Dunbing Huang Anren Zhang Xiaohua Ke |
| author_sort | Jiaxin Gao |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | PurposeThe purpose of this meta-analysis was to conduct a comprehensive evaluation of randomized controlled trials (RCTs) of game-based interventions (GBI) for children and adolescents with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) to identify the clinical efficacy of GBI on core symptoms and other concomitant symptoms of ASD.MethodsPubMed, Web of Science, Embase and the Cochrane Library were systematically searched for articles published until July 2023.ResultsTwenty-four studies with 1,801 patients met the inclusion criteria. The results showed that GBI had a significant positive effect on social skills (g = −0.59, p = 0.004), social behaviors (g = 0.45, p < 0.001), and cognition (g = 0.57, p < 0.001) in children and adolescents with ASD, while the effects of language expression (g = 0.15), anxiety (g = −0.13), and parenting stress (g = −0.51) were small and nonsignificant.ConclusionsThe results of the current meta-analysis showed that GBI was effective in improving social skills, social behaviors and cognition in children and adolescents with ASD in the existing studies and was not significant in improving language skills, anxiety and parental stress, but due to the limited number and low quality of the included studies, the above conclusions need to be validated by conducting more large-sample, high-quality RCTs.Systematic Review Registrationwww.crd.york.ac.uk/prospero/display_record.php?ID=CRD42023390793, identifier: CRD42023390793. |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj-art-ea494ee3486e4c08944ce382aa30f38c |
| institution | DOAJ |
| issn | 2296-2360 |
| language | English |
| publishDate | 2025-04-01 |
| publisher | Frontiers Media S.A. |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Frontiers in Pediatrics |
| spelling | doaj-art-ea494ee3486e4c08944ce382aa30f38c2025-08-20T03:07:01ZengFrontiers Media S.A.Frontiers in Pediatrics2296-23602025-04-011310.3389/fped.2025.14985631498563The effect of game-based interventions on children and adolescents with autism spectrum disorder: A systematic review and meta-analysisJiaxin Gao0Jiaxin Gao1Wei Song2Dunbing Huang3Anren Zhang4Xiaohua Ke5School of Health and Rehabilitation, Chengdu University of Traditional Chinese Medicine, Chengdu, ChinaDepartment of Rehabilitation Medicine, Shanghai Fourth People’s Hospital Affiliated to Tongji University, Shanghai, ChinaDepartment of Rehabilitation Medicine, Shanghai Fourth People’s Hospital Affiliated to Tongji University, Shanghai, ChinaDepartment of Rehabilitation Medicine, Shanghai Fourth People’s Hospital Affiliated to Tongji University, Shanghai, ChinaDepartment of Rehabilitation Medicine, Shanghai Fourth People’s Hospital Affiliated to Tongji University, Shanghai, ChinaDepartment of Rehabilitation Medicine, Shanghai Fourth People’s Hospital Affiliated to Tongji University, Shanghai, ChinaPurposeThe purpose of this meta-analysis was to conduct a comprehensive evaluation of randomized controlled trials (RCTs) of game-based interventions (GBI) for children and adolescents with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) to identify the clinical efficacy of GBI on core symptoms and other concomitant symptoms of ASD.MethodsPubMed, Web of Science, Embase and the Cochrane Library were systematically searched for articles published until July 2023.ResultsTwenty-four studies with 1,801 patients met the inclusion criteria. The results showed that GBI had a significant positive effect on social skills (g = −0.59, p = 0.004), social behaviors (g = 0.45, p < 0.001), and cognition (g = 0.57, p < 0.001) in children and adolescents with ASD, while the effects of language expression (g = 0.15), anxiety (g = −0.13), and parenting stress (g = −0.51) were small and nonsignificant.ConclusionsThe results of the current meta-analysis showed that GBI was effective in improving social skills, social behaviors and cognition in children and adolescents with ASD in the existing studies and was not significant in improving language skills, anxiety and parental stress, but due to the limited number and low quality of the included studies, the above conclusions need to be validated by conducting more large-sample, high-quality RCTs.Systematic Review Registrationwww.crd.york.ac.uk/prospero/display_record.php?ID=CRD42023390793, identifier: CRD42023390793.https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fped.2025.1498563/fullautism spectrum disordergame-based interventionschildrenadolescencemeta-analysis |
| spellingShingle | Jiaxin Gao Jiaxin Gao Wei Song Dunbing Huang Anren Zhang Xiaohua Ke The effect of game-based interventions on children and adolescents with autism spectrum disorder: A systematic review and meta-analysis Frontiers in Pediatrics autism spectrum disorder game-based interventions children adolescence meta-analysis |
| title | The effect of game-based interventions on children and adolescents with autism spectrum disorder: A systematic review and meta-analysis |
| title_full | The effect of game-based interventions on children and adolescents with autism spectrum disorder: A systematic review and meta-analysis |
| title_fullStr | The effect of game-based interventions on children and adolescents with autism spectrum disorder: A systematic review and meta-analysis |
| title_full_unstemmed | The effect of game-based interventions on children and adolescents with autism spectrum disorder: A systematic review and meta-analysis |
| title_short | The effect of game-based interventions on children and adolescents with autism spectrum disorder: A systematic review and meta-analysis |
| title_sort | effect of game based interventions on children and adolescents with autism spectrum disorder a systematic review and meta analysis |
| topic | autism spectrum disorder game-based interventions children adolescence meta-analysis |
| url | https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fped.2025.1498563/full |
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