4-STEP-Training Program for Social Media Addiction
Conditions
Keywords
4-STEP-Training Program,Social Networkong, Flourishing, Insomnia, Fatigue, Psychological Problems
Brief summary
This study evaluates the effectiveness of the 4-STEP Training Program in reducing social media addiction and improving psychological well-being among adolescents. Increasing use of social media has been linked with anxiety, depression, stress, sleep problems, low self-esteem, and reduced academic performance, particularly among adolescents who are more vulnerable to social comparison, fear of missing out, and reliance on online validation. To address this issue, a structured intervention integrating psychoeducation, cognitive-behavioral techniques, and relapse prevention strategies is implemented. The study will involve adolescents aged 13-18 years from private schools and colleges, selected based on standardized cut-off scores for social media addiction and low flourishing. The effectiveness of the program will be assessed by comparing experimental and control groups using validated psychological measures. It is expected that the intervention will significantly reduce social media addiction and psychological distress while improving emotional regulation, flourishing, and academic functioning.
Detailed description
The present study focuses on the growing concern of social media addiction among adolescents and its associated psychological consequences. In this research the study will be conducted on adolescents aged 13 to 18 years from selected private schools and colleges. A sample of approximately N=120 participants initially enrolled and will be screened out using standardized criteria, including scores above the cut-off on the Social Networking Addiction Scale and below the cut-off on the Secure Flourish Index. After eligibility assessment and screening based on standardised measure N=80 participants will be randomly assigned to either an experimental group receiving the intervention or a waitlist control group. Data will be collected using validated psychological scales measuring social media addiction, flourishing, anxiety, depression, stress, fatigue, insomnia, family relationships, and academic productivity. The effectiveness of the intervention will be assessed by comparing pre- and post-intervention outcomes between the two groups using statistical analysis. It is expected that the 4-STEP Training Program will significantly reduce problematic social media use and psychological distress while enhancing emotional regulation, psychological well-being, academic engagement, and overall functioning among adolescents. This study is intended to contribute to the development of practical, structured, and evidence-based interventions for managing social media addiction in youth populations. To address this growing issue, the study introduces the 4-STEP Training Program, a structured and evidence-based intervention designed to reduce social media addiction and improve psychological functioning. The program integrates four key components: screening and psychoeducation, treatment planning and cognitive-behavioral strategies, effective behavioral management techniques, and relapse prevention. These components aim to help adolescents identify maladaptive thoughts and behaviors related to social media use, develop healthier coping strategies, and build long-term self-regulation skills.
Interventions
The 4-STEP Training Program (4-STEP-TPS) is distinguished from existing interventions by its structured, multi-component, and individualized approach specifically designed for adolescent social media addiction. Unlike traditional interventions that often rely on a single method such as psychoeducation or cognitive-behavioral therapy alone, this program integrates psychoeducation, case conceptualization, cognitive-behavioral techniques, self-regulation strategies, and relapse prevention within a sequential four-step framework. It is delivered on an individual basis, allowing personalized goal-setting and intervention planning according to each participant's social media use patterns and psychological needs. Additionally, the program incorporates continuous self-monitoring and behavioral tracking to enhance awareness and control over usage behaviors. Another key feature is its holistic focus, addressing not only addiction but also related outcomes such as psychological distress, sleep pr
Sponsors
Government College University Faisalabad
Study design
Allocation
RANDOMIZED
Intervention model
PARALLEL
Primary purpose
TREATMENT
Masking
NONE
Intervention model description
The present study will be based on an experimental research model using a pre-test-post-test control group design to evaluate the effectiveness of the 4-STEP Training Program for Social Media Addiction (4-STEP-TPS). In this model, the independent variable will be the 4-STEP Training Program, while the dependent variables will include social media addiction, psychological well-being (flourishing), depression, anxiety, stress, fatigue, insomnia, family relationships, and academic productivity.Adolescents will be randomly assigned to either an experimental group, which will receive the intervention, or a waitlist control group, which will not receive the intervention during the study period. Both groups will be assessed at pre-test (before the intervention) and post-test (after the intervention) to examine changes over time. The model will assume that participation in the 4-STEP program will lead to a reduction in social media addiction and psychological distress, along with improvements
Eligibility
Sex/Gender
ALL
Age
13 Years to 18 Years
Healthy volunteers
Yes
Inclusion criteria
* Adolescents aged 13-18 years * Individuals reporting moderate to high levels of social media addiction (based on standardized scale cut-off, e.g., BSMAS/SNAS) * Regular social media users with an average daily usage of 4 hours or more * Willingness to participate with informed consent and parental consent
Exclusion criteria
* Adolescents who do not meet the inclusion criteria * Diagnosed with severe psychiatric disorders (e.g., psychosis, severe depression) * Currently receiving psychological or psychiatric treatment for addiction-related problems * Presence of serious physical or neurological conditions * Individuals who are not regular social media users * Participants who fail to complete pre-test or post-test assessments
Design outcomes
Primary
| Measure | Time frame | Description |
|---|---|---|
| Social Networking Addiction Scale (SNAS, Shahnawaz & Rehman, 2020) | At Screening , after 4 weeks, and re-assessment upto 6-months | The Social Networking Addiction Scale (SNAS) was developed to measure addiction of all forms of social networking across six-dimensions salience (items 1-4), mood modification (items 5-7), tolerance (items 8-10), withdrawal (items 11-14), conflict (item 1517), and relapse (items 18-21) (Shahnawaz \& Rehman, 2020). The SNAS is a 21-item self-reported scale rated on a 7-point Likert scale ranging from 1 (strongly disagree) to 7 (strongly agree). The score can range from 21 to 147. Any total score above 84 indicates addiction. The scale has demonstrated good test-retest reliability (0.88) and good validity, as reported by Shahnawaz and Rehman (2020). |
| Secure Flourish Index (SFI, Weziak-Bialowolska et al., 2017) | At Screening after 4 weeks and reassessment upto 6 months | The Secure Flourish Index (SFI) was developed to measure long-term flourishing across 6 domains happiness and life satisfaction (items 1-2), physical and mental health (items 3-4), meaning and purpose (items 5-6), character and virtue (items 7-8), close social relationships (items 9-10), and financial and material stability (items 11-12) (WeziakBialowolska et al., 2017). It is a self-report scale with 2 items per domain, totaling 12 items, rated on a 0-10 scale. Total scores range from 0 to 120, with higher scores indicating greater flourishing. It has an internal consistency of 0.85 and good construct validity (Weziak-Bialowolska et al., 2017). |
| Fatigue Assessment Scale (FAS, Michielsen et al., 2003) | At Screening, after 4, weeks and re-assessment upto 6-months | The Fatigue Assessment Scale (FAS) was developed to evaluate the physical and mental symptoms of fatigue (Michielsen et al., 2003). It is a self-report measure with 10 items rated on a 5-point Likert scale ranging from 1 (never) to 5 (always). The scale has 2 subscales: mental fatigue, measured by the sum of items 3, 6, 7, 8, and 9, and physical fatigue, measured by the sum of items 1, 2, 4, 5, and 10. Items 4 and 10 are reverse-scored. The total scores range from 10 (lowest level of fatigue) to 50 (highest level of fatigue). The scale has an internal consistency of 0.90 and good validity (Michielsen et al., 2003). |
| Insomnia Severity Index (ISI, Bastien et al., 2001) | At Screening , after 4 weeks, and re-assessment upto 6-months | The Insomnia Severity Index (ISI) was developed as a screening measure for insomnia as well as an outcome measure in treatment research (Bastien et al., 2001). It is a self-report measure with 7 items rated on a 5-point Likert scale ranging from 0 to 4. The total score ranges from 0 to 28, with higher scores indicating more severe insomnia symptoms. Although not validated, the developers suggest cutoff scores to be used for interpretation, with total scores of 0-7 indicating "no clinically significant insomnia," scores between 8-14 indicating "subthreshold insomnia," scores between 15-21 indicating "clinical insomnia (moderate severity)," and scores in the range 22-28 indicating "clinical insomnia (severe)." The scale has an internal consistency of 0.74 (Bastien et al., 2001). |
| Depression, Anxiety and Stress Scales (DASS, Lovibond & Lovibond, 1995) | At Screening, after 4 week and re-assessment upto 6 months | The DASS-21 is the shortened version of the DASS-42 and was designed to measure the symptoms of depression, anxiety, and stress (Lovibond \& Lovibond, 1995). It is a self-report measure with 21 items rated on a 4-point Likert scale (0-3). Each of the three DASS-21 scales, depression (items 3, 5, 10, 13, 16, 17, 21), anxiety (items 2, 4, 7, 9, 15, 19, 20), and stress (items 1, 6, 8, 11, 12, 14, 18), contains 7 items. The scale has good internal consistency and construct validity in both clinical and non-clinical samples (Antony et al., 1998). Scores on the DASS-21 must be multiplied by 2 to obtain the final score. After obtaining the final score for each depression, anxiety, and stress, the final score is compared to the recommended cut-off scores for severity labels (normal, moderate, severe). |
| The Brief Family Relationship Scale (BFRS, Fok, Allen, Henry, 2014) | After Screening, 4 weeks and re-asessment upto 6 months | The Brief Family Relationship Scale (BFRS) was proposed and validated by Fok, Allen, Henry, and the People Awakening Team (2014). This 16-item instrument was specifically adapted from the Relationship dimension of the original Family Environment Scale (FES) developed by Moos and Moos (1994). By refining the original 27-item. By developing a 16-item measure of the relationship dimension, the authors provided a practical and efficient way to assess three core components of family functioning: Cohesion, Expressiveness, and Conflict. This scale is particularly valued in research involving adolescent populations, as it offers a reliable assessment of the family environment while remaining brief enough for use in large-scale community and clinical studies (Fok et al., 2014; Moos \& Moos, 1994). |
Countries
Pakistan
Contacts
CONTACTQasir Abbas Qasir Abbas, PhD Clinical Psychology
CONTACTFazilat mehmood Fazilat mehmood, MS Clinical Psychology
PRINCIPAL_INVESTIGATORQasir Abbas Qasir Abbas, PhD Clinical Psychology
Government College University Faisalabad
Outcome results
None listed