Parent education and behavioural management interventions for Screens and Gaming Disorder in children

None listed

The objective of the current study is to conduct a Feasibility Trial (FT) for a treatment intervention involving parents of children and young adolescents with a screen-based disorder, or with problematic patterns of screen use. Parents of children and adolescents identified as “at risk” of Internet Gaming Disorder (IGD) or Problematic Screen Use will be invited to take part in the FT. Hypotheses: 1. Given that it is expected a number of parents will not be able to implement the program for the full 6 weeks, it is expected that those who complete will have better results than those who partially complete. That is, that parents who are able to implement the treatment model for all 6 weeks post intervention, compared to those parents who implemented strategies for under 2 weeks and those who implemented them for between 3-6 weeks, will report a greater decrease in child screen use and significantly stronger improvement in their child’s wellbeing as measured by reduced family conflict, improved behaviour, sleep, exercise, social engagement with peers and schoolwork. 2. That children with high levels of Internet Gaming as measured by clinically significant score on the IGD-10 (5+) and/or high/problematic levels on the IGD-10, SABAS and BSMAS (24+) prior to intervention, will report an initial increase in family conflict followed by a steady reduction once the parent strategies are in place. 3. That the parenting intervention strategies employed by the active treatment group will be more effective in the younger sample than in the teenage sample. This hypothesis is based on previous research (Marshall et al., 2022) where we found preliminary evidence for increased IGD symptoms after children start high school and on the basis that teenagers are individuating and therefore less likely to willingly comply with parent rules than primary school children. 4. That parenting strategies will be more effective for children that have ‘at risk’ or sub-clinical presentations rather than clinical levels of IGD/GD, as children and teenagers who meet criteria the full clinical disorder criteria may be more resistant to intervention, more ‘driven’ by the “addiction”, and potentially lacking insight into their disorder. 5. That participants whose parents receive the text message ‘nudge’ will maintain treatment gains longer and/or more consistently than participants who do not.

No related papers found yet.