Pascoe, Catherine (2013) Investigation of the Efficacy of Neurofeedback Training as a Treatment for Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder. Coursework Masters thesis, University of Southern Queensland. (Unpublished)
Abstract
This study aimed to assess the efficacy of neurofeedback training as a treatment modality for children diagnosed with ADHD using an Australian sample of children aged between 6 and 15 years of age in a clinical setting. This study consisted of two experiments both of which used archival electroencephalography (EEG) data of 12 children (Experiment 1) and 22 children (Experiment 2) held by a local clinician. As the majority of research regarding the cortical activation of children diagnosed with ADHD shows a higher Theta activation and a lower Beta activation than the norm, the clinician used the Theta/Beta training protocol. According to this protocol the ratio of Beta and Theta bands are monitored and through operant conditioning, an increase in Beta activity and/or a decrease in Theta activity are rewarded. The aim of this treatment is to produce an overall decrease in the Theta/Beta ratio (Demos, 2005). Experiment 1 aimed to address the gap in research which specifically relates to assessing if a clinical sample using EEG data would produce a significant decrease in the Theta/Beta ratio, thus indicating that neurofeedback training specifically improves cortical activation of children with ADHD. This experiment used repeated measures ANOVAs to analyse the EEG data from sessions 2, 20, 30, 40 and 50 (where possible) of the 12 participants in this study. The results of Experiment 1 indicated 50% of children had a statistically significant improvement in the Theta/Beta ratio by either session 20 or 30. Experiment 2 was conducted to assess if similar results were possible with fewer than 20 sessions. As the Australian Government is currently providing subsidised access for 6 to 10 session with a psychologist through the Better Access program, the same analyses were conducted at sessions 6, 10 and 20 (if available) of 23 children diagnosed with ADHD. The results of this experiment indicated that 4.34% (n =1) of children had a statistically significant improvement in the Theta/Beta ratio by session 10. These results add to the emerging research into the effectiveness of neurofeedback training as a treatment modality for ADHD and suggest that 10 sessions or less are not effective in creating a significant change in cortical activation in children with ADHD. The results of Experiment 1 suggest that 20 sessions of neurofeedback training was able to effectively improve the cortical activation of half of the children diagnosed with ADHD. Therefore neurofeedback training offers an additional option for the treatment of ADHD in children, and may be used concurrently with stimulant medication or as an alternative to medication.
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| Item Type: | Thesis (Non-Research) (Coursework Masters) |
|---|---|
| Item Status: | Live Archive |
| Additional Information: | Current UniSQ staff and students can request access to this thesis. Please email research.repository@unisq.edu.au with a subject line of SEAR thesis request and provide: Name of the thesis requested and Your name and UniSQ email address |
| Faculty/School / Institute/Centre: | Historic - Faculty of Health, Engineering and Sciences - School of Psychology, Counselling and Community (1 Jul 2013 - 31 Dec 2014) |
| Supervisors: | Liam Hendry |
| Qualification: | Bachelor of Science (Honours) |
| Date Deposited: | 30 Sep 2025 02:49 |
| Last Modified: | 30 Sep 2025 02:49 |
| Fields of Research (2008): | 17 Psychology and Cognitive Sciences > 1799 Other Psychology and Cognitive Sciences > 179999 Psychology and Cognitive Sciences not elsewhere classified |
| Fields of Research (2020): | 52 PSYCHOLOGY > 5299 Other psychology > 529999 Other psychology not elsewhere classified |
| URI: | https://sear.unisq.edu.au/id/eprint/52655 |
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