Problematic Internet Usage: An intervention to help regulate daily personal internet use?

Not Applicable

Completed

• Conditions: Problematic internet use; Mental Health - Addiction

• Registration Number: ACTRN12622001484730
• Lead Sponsor: niversity of Adelaide

Brief Summary

Problem Internet Usage (PIU) is associated with numerous psychological concerns. A model of the dynamics of self-regulation (DSR) may provide a useful framework for psychological interventions with PIU, given previous research showing that the framework can be successfully applied to PIU behaviors. The authors conducted a randomized controlled trial (RCT) to evaluate the efficacy of an internet-based intervention to reduce the amount of daily personal internet hours, PIU symptoms, and associated mental health issues for university students who reported PIU issues. Assessments were undertaken at baseline, on each day of the 21 day intervention, and 6-week follow-up. Seventy-four participants completed the intervention and 38 completed follow-up assessments. The experimental group reduced daily personal internet usage to a greater degree than the active control group at the end of the intervention. Findings also demonstrated a greater reduction in Internet Addiction Test (IAT) scores for the experimental group compared to the active control. Limited effects were found for depression, anxiety, stress and social anxiety scores. A third of participants in the experimental condition demonstrated a clinically significant change in IAT scores by the end of the intervention. There were statistically significant differences between the experimental and control groups at follow-up for IAT scores only.

Detailed Description

Not available

Study Timeline

• Results First Posted: 1900-01-01
• Study Completion: 2019-11-15
• Study Start: 2022-11-28
• Last Update Posted: 5 December 2022

Recruitment & Eligibility

• Status: Completed
• Sex: All
• Target Recruitment: 94

Inclusion Criteria

The target population for these behavior changes are individuals who experience difficulties regulating their time on the internet. Therefore, participants who scored 40 or higher on the IAT were included, as scores of 40-69 on the Internet Addiction Test (IAT) are indicative of individuals who have frequent problems, and scores of 70-100 are indicative of significant issues (Kuss & Lopez-Fernandez, 2016; Laconi et al., 2014).

Exclusion Criteria

The intervention relies on priming mental representation frameworks via the common understandings and social constructs of the English words commitment and progress. Previous research (Dunbar et al., 2018) showed that this does not occur reliably with participants for whom English is a second language. Therefore, any students for whom English was not their first language were excluded.

Study & Design

• Study Type: Interventional
• Study Design: Not specified