Table 2.

Baseline psychometric characteristics of study groups.

	Intervention Group Mean ± SD	Control group Mean ± SD	p-value*
SDQ score
Total	18.11 ± 7.37	18 ± 6.47	0.952
Emotional symptoms	3.26 ± 2.60	2.92 ± 2.72	0.574
Conduct problems	1.48 ± 1.80	1.40 ± 1.83	0.852
Hyperactivity score	4.25 ± 2.90	3.82 ± 3.37	0.460
Peer problem	3.30 ± 2.81	2.5 ± 2.08	0.361
Prosocial behaviour	6.37 ±2.13	7.35 ± 2.45	0.117
PedsQL score
Physical functioning	66.20 ± 28.10	70.75 ± 23.07	0.560
Emotional functioning	56.30 ± 30.21	56.96 ± 26.46	0.773
Social functioning	67.03 ± 33.63	67.50 ± 28.90	0.530
School functioning	66.30 ± 34.57	69.46 ± 26.60	0.852
SiC score
Total	46.57 ± 5.86	43.85 ± 8.82	0.247
Lack of well-being	15.17 ± 4.00	14.08 ± 3.91	0.344
Distress	17.70 ± 3.36	18.20 ± 2.87	0.584
Lack of social support	14.34 ± 2.44	13.11 ± 2.98	0.123

SDQ: Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire, PedsQL: Pediatric Quality of Life, SiC: Stress in Children

^*Difference of frequencies tested with Pearson’s chi square or Fisher’s exact test, difference of means with Student’s t-test and non-parametric Mann-Whitney U test (applied in mean weight, mean SDQ emotional symptoms, conduct problems, hyperactivity, peer problem scores, in all PedsQL scores and SiC distress sub-score).