Enhancing ADHD Intervention Through Dakon: A Sustainable Occupational Therapy Innovation Rooted in Indonesian Cultural Practices

DOI

10.2991/978-2-38476-620-8_40How to use a DOI?

Keywords

ADHD; Occupational Therapy; Cultural-Based Intervention; Traditional Games; Pediatric Rehabilitation

Abstract

Background: Children with Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) often experience difficulties in attention, behavioral regulation, motor coordination, and social participation. Culturally relevant occupational therapy interventions may improve engagement while supporting sustainable healthcare. Dakon, a traditional Indonesian board game, integrates cognitive, motor, behavioral, and social demands, making it a potential therapeutic medium. Objective: This study investigated differences in Dakon gameplay performance between children with ADHD and typically developing children to explore its potential in occupational therapy.Methods: A comparative observational study included 20 children aged 6–11 years (10 ADHD; 10 typically developing). Participants were observed during Dakon gameplay across five domains: cognitive engagement, behavioral regulation, fine and gross motor skills, social interaction, and game strategy understanding. Group differences were analyzed using the Mann–Whitney U test. Results: Children with ADHD performed significantly lower than typically developing children across all domains (p < 0.001). The greatest deficit was found in game strategy understanding (47% lower), followed by social interaction (45%), cognitive engagement (43%), fine and gross motor skills (43%), and behavioral regulation (39%). These findings suggest that Dakon effectively elicits executive functioning, motor coordination, self-regulation, and social participation within a meaningful cultural context. Conclusion: Dakon is a promising low-cost, culturally responsive occupational therapy medium that supports sustainable pediatric rehabilitation. Further experimental studies are needed to establish its therapeutic effectiveness and long-term outcomes.

Copyright

© 2026 The Author(s)

Open Access

Open Access This chapter is licensed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/), which permits any noncommercial use, sharing, adaptation, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, as long as you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons license and indicate if changes were made.

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TY  - CONF
AU  - Muhammad Hidayat Sahid
AU  - Gunawan Wicaksono
AU  - Ratna Darjanti Haryadi
AU  - Amien Suharti
AU  - Akehsan Dahlan
AU  - Mohamad Ghazali Masuri
AU  - Andriani Pratiwi
AU  - Syamsul Anwar Sultan Ibrahim
AU  - Mohd. Suleiman Murad
AU  - Padma A. Rahman
AU  - Nurani Nordin
PY  - 2026
DA  - 2026/10/23
TI  - Enhancing ADHD Intervention Through Dakon: A Sustainable Occupational Therapy Innovation Rooted in Indonesian Cultural Practices
BT  - Proceedings of the 8th International Conference of Vocational Education, Applied Science and Technology (ICVEAST 2026)
PB  - Atlantis Press
SP  - 514
EP  - 525
SN  - 2352-5398
UR  - https://doi.org/10.2991/978-2-38476-620-8_40
DO  - 10.2991/978-2-38476-620-8_40
ID  - Sahid2026
ER  -