The effect of computerized Cognitive Training package on executive functions of people with major depressive disorder

Background : Major depression is a common disease in the world that is associated with cognitive disorders including executive dysfunction.One of the new therapies that targets cognitive disorders is computerized cognitive training. The aim of this study was to investigate the effect of computerized cognitive training package on executive functions in depressed individuals in comparison with the active control group. Methods: The present study was an experimental study with a pretest-posttest design with a control group. The statistical population of this study included all people aged 20 to 35 years who referred to psychology and psychiatric centers in Tehran who received a diagnosis of major depressive disorder in August 1400. The sampling method in this research is a two-stage cluster random method. From 22 districts of Tehran and in proportion to the volume of clusters, two districts were selected. From the centers of these two regions, 5 centers were randomly selected. By referring to these five centers, among the people who met the inclusion criteria, 28 people were selected by availability and randomly assigned to experimental and control groups. First, tests (Cantab, N-back and Daneman & Carpenter Working Memory) were performed for both groups. Then, the computerized cognitive training package of the developed computers (20 sessions of 20 minutes) was performed on the experimental group and non-targeted programs (20 sessions of 20 minutes) were performed for the control group. The tests were performed again for both groups. The results were analyzed by multivariate analysis of variance. Results: The results of multivariate analysis of variance showed that there was a significant difference between the mean of the dependent variable (executive function) between the experimental and control groups (Wilks Lambda= F(12,7)=3.44,P=0.04, 2η=0.85) Conclusion: The results of this study showed that the computerized cognitive training package improves executive functions and can be used as a new treatment to target cognitive disorders caused by major depression.