The Comparative Efficacy of Treatments for Children and Young Adults with Internet Addiction/Internet Gaming Disorder: An Updated Meta-Analysis

Chuan-Hsin Chang, Yue-Cune Chang, Luke Yang and Ruu-Fen Tzang
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Chuan-Hsin Chang: Genomics Research Center, Academia Sinica, Taipei 115, Taiwan
Yue-Cune Chang: Department of Mathematics, Tamkang University, New Taipei City 251301, Taiwan
Luke Yang: Department of Social Welfare, Hsuan Chuang University, Hsinchu 30092, Taiwan
Ruu-Fen Tzang: Department of Psychiatry, Mackay Memorial Hospital, Taipei 10449, Taiwan

IJERPH, 2022, vol. 19, issue 5, 1-15

Abstract: Internet gaming disorder (IGD) is a formal mental disorder leading to bad outcomes for children and adolescents. This study comprehensively compared the estimated effect of various pharmacotherapy and psychosocial interventions for IGD from randomized controlled trials (RCT) through updated meta-analysis, using meta-regression. A search of PubMed/MEDLINE, Cochrane Library, and Airiti Library between 2000 and 2017 was conducted for various IA/IGD intervention modalities. A total of 124 studies from 29 selected papers involving 5601 children and young adults with IA/IGD were found. Meta-analyzing the pooled standardized mean difference (SMD) revealed a preliminary random effect of 1.399 with a 95% confidence interval of 1.272–1.527, suggesting highly effective treatment of IA/IGD. After adjusting for the confounding risks of age, publication year, type of subjects, and type of study, this study revealed that combining pharmacotherapy with cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) or multi-level counseling (MLC) was the most effective treatment option. Using a scale of time spent online or a severity of IA symptoms scale was a more effective measurement, with p -values = 0.006 and 0.002, respectively. IA/IGD patients with comorbid depression showed worse outcomes than youth with another comorbidity. The corresponding model goodness-of-fit indices were τ 2 = 1.188; I 2 -Residual = 89.74%; and Adjusted-R 2 = 16.10%. This systematic review indicates that pharmacotherapy combined with CBT or MLC might be an effective therapeutic strategy for youth with gaming disorder.

Keywords: internet addiction; internet gaming disorder; psychological treatment; pharmacotherapy; meta-regression (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I I1 I3 Q Q5 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2022
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (2)

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