Effectiveness of sensory integration therapy in children, focusing on Korean children: A systematic review and meta-analysis

Table 1 Characteristics of selected studies

Ref.	Age (yr)	Diagnosis	Test/control	Frequency	Result	Measurement	Quality Assessment
Kwon et al[37], 2001	4-7	CP	10/10	Twice per week/30-40 min/20 times	Sensory, gross motor, fine motor, adaptive behavior	GMFM, PMDT, adaptive behavior checklist	2
Hong and Oh[39], 2003	15	Mental retardation	6/5	Twice per week/50 min/20 times	Coordination (static, hand movement, general movement)	Korean Oseretsky Test of Motor Proficiency	2
Kwon et al[38], 2004	4-10	Developmental disability	12/14	Twice per week/40 min/24 times	Sensory, motor	Sensory profile, PDMS	2
Kim et al[48], 2005	8-13	Intellectual disability	11/9	Three times per week/40 min/30 times	Gross motor (motor, balance)	GMFM-88, BOTMP	2
Kim and Park[30], 2005	8-10	Intellectual disability	12/12	Three times per week/40 min/60 times	Emotional behavior	EBC	2
Kim et al[40], 2006	8-10	Intellectual disability	12/12	Three times per week/40 min/60 times	Object manipulation	TGMD-2	2
Jeon and Ahn[49], 2006	10-13	Intellectual disability	10/10	Three times per week/40 min/24 times	Attention	Superlab Pro 1.05	2
Kang and Kang[34], 2007	6-13	Developmental disability	19/19	Twice per week/60 min/40 times	Adaptive behavior	KISE-SAB	2
Kim[41], 2007	8-9	Moderate intellectual disability	12/12	Six times per week/40 min/60 times	Motor	TGMD-2	2
Kim[50], 2007	6-10	Intellectual disability	8/8	Twice per week/90 min/24 times	Locomotion skills (gross motor)	TGMD-2	2
Kim[31], 2008	3-4	No disability	3/4	Twice per week/40 min/8 times	Adaptive behavior	ABC	2
Kwon[29], 2008	4-12	Developmental disability	19/20	Twice per week/40 min/36 times	Motor, visual perception	TVPS-R, BOT2, SMS, SP	2
Yu and Koo[51], 2008	9-11	ASD	10/10	Twice per week/40 min/24 times	Stereotyped behavior time, brain wave change	Time sampling record, WEMG-8	2
Cho[33], 2008	7-36 mo	Developmental disability	32/30	Once a week/30 min/8 times	Development, sensory, routine movement	DDST, CCDT Wee FIM, SP	2
Kim[32], 2009	2-5	Intellectual disability, mild ASD	4/3	Twice per week/30 min/20 times	Sensory, social, emotional	SSP, ITSEA, MT-MAP	2
Choi[36], 2010	5-7	Developmental disability (except CP, ASD)	10/10	Twice per week/40 min/16 times	Gross motor (motor, balance)	GMFM, BOTMP	1
Kim[42], 2011	7-14	Developmental coordination disability	8/8	Twice per week/40 min/8 sessions	Hand function (precision, dexterity)	Groove pegboard, BOTMPII	2
Lee[43], 2013	5-7	ASD	5/5	Twice per week/60 min /14 sessions	Motor, play behavior	Oseretsky motor skill test, PPBS	2
Lee[52], 2015	NLT 7	Spastic diplegic cerebral palsy	10/10	Twice per week/40 min/10 sessions	Body schema, motor, self-efficacy	Draw-A-Person Test, GMFM-66, PSEQ	1
Lee[45], 2017	6-10	ADHD	8/8	Twice per week/40 min/16 sessions	Sensory, motor skill at movement	SSP, BOT-2, VMI	2
Ryu[46], 2017	3-7	Disabled and non-disabled brothers/ Disabled children	20 (10 Group)/10	Group (once a week/40min/10sessions); Individual (once a week/40 min/10 sessions)	Interaction, sensory processing; Play (time, level)	Peer Interaction scale; SSP, Revised knox; preschool play scale video	2
Lee et al[10], 2018	9-10	ADHD	10/10	Twice per week/50 min/12 sessions	Sensory, social skills, self-esteem	SSP, SSRS, rosenberg self-esteem scale	2
Park and Kim[11], 2019	3-5	Developmental retardation	9/8	Twice per week/40 min/ 16 sessions	sensory, motor	SSP, PDMS-2	2
Kim[35], 2019	6	No disability	15/15	Twice per week/40 min/16 sessions	Sensory, visual perception, problematic behavior	SSP, K-DTVP-II, K-CBCL	1

Table 2 The level of qualitative evidence of subject studies

Level of evidence	Definition	n (%)
Level 1	Systematic review; Meta analysis; Randomized controlled trials	3 (12)
Level 2	Non-randomized two group studies	21 (88)

Table 3 Average effect sizes of design variable levels and diagnosis

Study design				95% Confidence interval		Heterogeneity
	Category	Studies (n)	Effect size	Lower limit	Upper limit	Q	P value	df
Diagnosis	CP	3	1.50	1.25	1.74	90.36	0.000	2
	ASD	2	1.35	0.96	1.71	0.63	0.43	1
	ADHD	2	1.06	0.75	1.38	36.52	0.31	1
	Developmental disability	6	0.48	0.38	0.58	273.62	0.000	5
	Intellectual disability	6	0.14	-0.05	0.34	232.97	0.000	5
Time	30 min	3	-0.01	-0.13	0.11	1.22	0.54	2
	40 min	15	0.88	0.77	0.99	527.86	0.000	14
Method	Individual	20	0.50	0.43	0.57	700.33	0.000	19
	Group	4	0.26	0.05	0.47	46.88	0.000	3

CP: Cerebral palsy; ASD: Autism spectrum disorder; ADHD: Attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder.

Table 4 Effect size of sensory integrating intervention by dependent variable

Function	Effect size	SE	Studies (n)	Subjects (n)
Social skill	1.22	0.084	5	49
Adaptive behavior	1.15	0.051	3	64
Sensory processing	0.85	0.068	8	78
Gross motor	0.26	0.043	12	139
Fine motor	0.25	0.053	5	49