This past year has created unique ways to utilize video games beyond entertainment. An example of this comes from earlier this month, a Cincinnati children’s nurse created a video game to ease children’s fear of anesthesia by tying the breathing to a game that kids can enjoy. Continuing this trend is a new game called EndeavorRx, which is a video game designed to treat ADHD in children ages 8-12 according to a recent report by Arizona News.
The catalyst for this game was actually created by an ongoing shortage in ADHD medications such as Adderall. This caused a search for an alternative way to help children with ADHD, which comes in the form of EndeavorRx, which has recently been approved by the FDA to be a prescribable treatment for ADHD in children ages 8-12.
According to EndeavorRx’s official website:
EndeavorRx uses sensory stimuli and motor challenges to target areas of the brain that play a key role in attention function. Kids are challenged to multitask and ignore distractions by navigating courses, collecting targets, and avoiding obstacles. An algorithm measures performance and customizes each patient’s treatment in real time.
This treatment must be prescribed by a healthcare professional, with the suggested time playing these games being for 25 minutes, 5 days a week, for four consecutive weeks, unless prescribed otherwise. This data can also be tracked by the parents who can follow along using the EndeavorRx Insight app.
Based on the trailer for EndeavorRx, children play the game by rotating their tablet device left and right to make their character follow suit. The goal is to move the character to hit the target set up somewhere on the x-axis of the screen, similarly to how games like Subway Surfer are played. Children are able to customize their experience and use small creatures as their avatars to play levels.
To back up the game’s effectiveness against ADHD, EndeavorRx also provides data suggesting that this game has been very successful so far in its testing. Over five clinical studies with over 600 children with ADHD, 73% of children reported improved attention, 68% of parents reported improvements with their children’s ADHD related impairments, and 0% had any severe adverse effects from the treatment.
With EndeavorRx dipping their toes into video game-related treatments, it will be interesting to follow how video games might be implemented into the medical field next.