Neuropsychological stimulation for children living in low socioeconomic level suburbs from Guatemala City: A study protocol.

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Abstract
Background: Guatemala remains one of the poorest countries in central America and suffers from high rates of social inequality and violence. Among other disadvantages, this unfavourable socioeconomic context poses a risk to children’s emotional and cognitive development. In addition to the negative impact that two years without attending school has had on Guatemalan children, the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the country’s economic stability has worsened the socioeconomic divide that these children face. This work presents a protocol for implementing a cognitive and emotional stimulation program with the goal of increasing the academic performance of these children and consequently improve their quality of life. Methods: The protocol proposes the implementation of a randomized controlled trial to assess the efficacy of a 24-session-long stimulation program. It contains activities targeting the cognitive functions of attention, language, executive functions, and social cognition, using the digital neurorehabilitation platform NeuronUP. The participants (n = 480) will be randomly assigned to either the Experimental or Control group. Pre- and post-intervention assessments will be carried out, together with a follow-up in the next academic year, in which both groups will change roles. Discussion: Mid- and long-term outcomes are still unknown, but effective interventions based on this protocol are expected to facilitate the following benefits for participants: (1) improved cognitive and emotional development; (2) improved academic performance; (3) improved well-being. We expect to create a validated neuropsychological stimulation program that could be applied in similar socioeconomically disadvantaged contexts around the world to help these children improve their life chances. Trial registration: This project has been registered in the Open Science Foundation data base on the 10th of February 2022 (https://doi.org/10.17605/OSF.IO/JVZ6W).

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