Feasibility Study of an 8-Week Parent-Child Yoga Program to Improve Attention in Children Aged 4 to 6 with Congenital Heart Disease

What this Trial Is About

This research aims to evaluate the feasibility of a parent-child yoga intervention designed to reduce attention deficits in children aged 4 to 6 years with congenital heart disease CHD. Children with CHD often face neurodevelopmental challenges, including a higher risk of attention deficit hyperactivity disorder ADHD. This study is a preliminary step before conducting a larger randomized controlled trial RCT to test the effectiveness of this intervention in improving attention and long-term academic and psychosocial outcomes for these children and their families. The study is a single-blind, two-center, two-arm randomized feasibility trial involving 24 parent-child pairs. Participants will be randomly assigned in a 21 ratio to either an 8-week parent-child yoga program plus standard clinical care or standard clinical care alone with a waitlist option for yoga after the study. The yoga sessions last 45 minutes each week and include active and calming parts embedded in stories suitable for the childs developmental level. Parents and children will also be encouraged to practice 5-minute at-home exercises three times a week throughout the 8-week period and continue up to a 6-month follow-up. Participants will undergo three neurodevelopmental assessments before the intervention, immediately after, and six months later. The study will monitor recruitment, dropout, and adherence rates acceptability of randomization variation in yoga delivery and data completeness. These measurements will help determine the feasibility of the procedures and inform the sample size for the future full-scale RCT. Overall participation spans about eight months including the intervention and follow-up periods.

A Parent-child Yoga Intervention for Reducing Attention Deficits in Children with Congenital Heart Disease: a Feasibility Study