A pairwise randomised controlled trial of a peer-mediated play-based intervention to improve the social play skills of children with ADHD: Outcomes of the typically-developing playmates

Sarah Wilkes-Gillan; Reinie Cordier; Anita Bundy; Michelle Lincoln; Yu-Wei Chen; Lauren Parsons; Alycia Cantrill

doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0276444

A pairwise randomised controlled trial of a peer-mediated play-based intervention to improve the social play skills of children with ADHD: Outcomes of the typically-developing playmates

PLoS One. 2022 Oct 25;17(10):e0276444. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0276444. eCollection 2022.

Authors

Sarah Wilkes-Gillan¹, Reinie Cordier^{2

3}, Anita Bundy⁴, Michelle Lincoln⁵, Yu-Wei Chen¹, Lauren Parsons³, Alycia Cantrill¹

Affiliations

¹ School of Health Sciences, Faculty of Medicine and Health, The University of Sydney, Sydney, New South Wales, Australia.
² Department of Social Work, Education and Community Wellbeing, Faculty of Health and Life Sciences, University of Northumbria, Newcastle upon Tyne, United Kingdom.
³ Curtin School of Allied Health, Faculty of Health Sciences, Curtin University, Perth, Western Australia, Australia.
⁴ Department of Occupational Therapy, College of Health and Human Sciences, Colorado State University, Fort Collins, Colorado, United States of America.
⁵ Faculty of Health, University of Canberra, Canberra, Australian Capital Territory, Australia.

Abstract

To examine the effectiveness of a play-based intervention for improving social play skills of typically-developing playmates of children with ADHD. Children (5-11 years) were randomised to an intervention (n = 15) or waitlisted control group (n = 14). The Test of Playfulness was scored by a blinded rater. Between-group statistics compared the change of the intervention (10-week intervention) and waitlisted control (10-week wait) groups. Change in the intervention group following intervention was significantly greater than the change in the waitlisted control group. When combining data from the groups, playmates' (n = 29) mean ToP scores improved significantly following intervention, with a large effect pre- to post-intervention and pre-intervention to follow-up. Typically-developing playmates of children with ADHD benefited from participation in a peer-mediated intervention.

Publication types

Randomized Controlled Trial
Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

Attention Deficit Disorder with Hyperactivity* / therapy
Child
Humans
Occupational Therapy*
Peer Group
Play and Playthings
Social Skills

Grants and funding

We would like to acknowledge funding provided by the Rotary Club of Mosman and by the University of Sydney’s Postgraduate Research Support Scheme. We would also like to thank the Australian Government for the provision of the Australian Postgraduate Award scholarship. The funders had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript.