Virtual Reality–Based and In-Person Martial Arts Training for Executive Functioning in Boys With Conduct Disorder: A Three-Arm Randomized Controlled Trial

This study will compare the effects of VR-based and in-person martial arts training with a no-exercise control condition on parent-reported executive functioning in boys aged 7–11 years with conduct disorder, immediately after the intervention and at a 30-day follow-up.

This three-arm parallel randomized controlled trial will include 135 participants allocated by block randomization (1:1:1), with allocation concealed in numbered, opaque, sealed envelopes. Questionnaire administration and data entry staff will be blinded. Assessments will occur at baseline, week 7, and 30 days later. Trial phase will not apply.

The study will take place at a pediatric rehabilitation center and a martial arts club in Chengdu, China. Training will be supervised; questionnaire administration and data entry staff will be blinded to group allocation.

Participants will be 135 boys aged 7–11 years with clinically confirmed conduct disorder; eligibility will require the ability to exercise safely, no contraindications to VR exposure, parental consent, and child assent; children with major neurological disorders, severe sensory or motor impairments, acute psychiatric instability, or any comorbid psychiatric diagnosis will not be enrolled.

Participants will be allocated to three groups of 45; the VR group will receive martial arts training using Pico 4 Enterprise headsets; the in-person group will receive supervised martial arts training at a club; both programs will include 21 sessions over 7 weeks, three sessions per week, lasting 30–50 minutes each; the control group will continue usual activities without study-provided exercise training.

Behavioral, emotional, and cognitive regulation and overall executive functioning will be assessed using the parent-report BRIEF-2.

After baseline assessment, participants will be individually allocated to the VR-based martial arts, in-person martial arts, or control group in a 1:1:1 ratio using block randomization. An independent researcher who will not be involved in recruitment, intervention delivery, or outcome assessment will generate the random allocation sequence before allocation. Assignments will be concealed in sequentially numbered, opaque, sealed envelopes, which will be opened in order after baseline assessment to reveal each participant’s allocation.

De-identified participant-level data underlying the reported results will be shared, including group allocation and executive-function scores at baseline, post-intervention, and 30-day follow-up. Names, contact details, and other identifying information will be removed.

Data will be available upon reasonable request from six months after publication of the main study results for a period of five years.

Qualified researchers from academic, scientific, or industry institutions will be eligible to request access. Access will require an approved research proposal and a signed data-use agreement protecting participant confidentiality.

Data will be used only for approved secondary analyses, verification of findings, or meta-analyses. Requests will specify the research aim, required variables, and analysis plan. Users will maintain secure storage, make no attempt to identify participants, and neither redistribute the data nor use them beyond the approved purpose.

Requests will be submitted by email to Fatemeh Mirzaei at solalll.19966@gmail.com. Applicants will provide their name, institutional affiliation, research proposal, required data, and analysis plan

Applicants will email Fatemeh Mirzaei at solalll.19966@gmail.com, providing their institutional affiliation, research aim, required data, and analysis plan. Requests will be reviewed within four weeks. Following approval and signing of a data-use agreement, de-identified data will be transferred securely within two weeks. For complete requests, the entire process will take up to six weeks.