NCT03220581

A Psychotherapy Development Study for Internet Gaming

Completed NA Results posted Last updated 7 February 2022

What this trial tests

NA trial testing Referral for care in Internet Gaming Disorder in 60 participants. Completed in 1 July 2020.

Timeline

1 October 2017

Primary endpoint
1 July 2020

1 July 2020

Quick facts

Lead sponsor	UConn Health
Phase	NA
Status	Completed
Study type	INTERVENTIONAL
Allocation	randomized
Design	parallel
Masking	single
Primary purpose	treatment
Enrollment	60
Start date	1 October 2017
Primary completion	1 July 2020
Estimated completion	1 July 2020
Sites	1 location across United States

Drugs / interventions tested

• Referral for care
• Behavioral therapy

Conditions studied

• Internet Gaming Disorder — all drugs for Internet Gaming Disorder →

Sponsor

UConn Health — full company profile →

Who can join

10 and older, any sex, with Internet Gaming Disorder. Patients with the condition only — healthy volunteers not accepted.

Results — posted to ClinicalTrials.gov

Per-arm endpoint measurements with 95% confidence intervals where reported. Source: trial results section.

Percentage of Participants Who Completed All 6 Sessions Primary · 12 weeks

Completion of sessions is an indicator of treatment acceptability and feasibility

Group	Value	95% CI
Behavioral Therapy	40.6

Number of Days of Gaming in Past Week - Reported by Child Primary · 12 weeks

Number of days of game playing in past week is an indicator of severity of the gaming problem.

Group	Value	95% CI
Referral for Care	5.04	± 1.81
Behavioral Therapy	3.24	± 2.28

Number of Days of Gaming in the Past Week - Reported by Parent Primary · 12 weeks

Number of days of gaming is an indicator of the severity of the gaming problem.

Group	Value	95% CI
Referral for Care	6.19	± 1.58
Behavioral Therapy	4.04	± 3.02

Number of Symptoms of Internet Gaming Disorder - Assessed Through a Clinical Interview With Child Primary · 12 weeks

Examines whether the treatment group showed greater reductions in symptoms of Internet gaming disorder than the control group. Ratings of Internet gaming disorder symptoms were assessed using a clinical interview with the child, conducted by trained assessors blind to treatment condition.

Group	Value	95% CI
Referral for Care	1.28	± 1.34
Behavioral Therapy	0.65	± 1.09

Number of Symptoms of Internet Gaming Disorder - Assessed Through a Clinical Interview With Parent Primary · 12 weeks

Examines whether the treatment group showed greater reductions in symptoms of Internet gaming disorder than the control group. Ratings of Internet gaming disorder symptoms were assessed using a clinical interview with the parent, conducted by trained assessors blind to treatment condition.

Group	Value	95% CI
Referral for Care	2.81	± 1.81
Behavioral Therapy	1.84	± 1.65

Adverse events — posted to ClinicalTrials.gov

Time frame: From baseline to 24 week follow-up. Reporting threshold: 5%. Adverse-event reports describe events observed during the trial — not all are caused by the drug.

Referral for Care

Serious: 1/28 (4%)

Deaths: 0/28

Behavioral Therapy

Serious: 0/32 (0%)

Deaths: 0/32

Serious adverse events (1 terms)

Reaction	System	Referral for Care	Behavioral Therapy
Inpatient Hospitalization	Injury, poisoning and procedural complications	—	—

Most-reported serious reactions: Inpatient Hospitalization.

Data from ClinicalTrials.gov NCT03220581 adverse events section.

Sponsor's own description

The fifth edition of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual for Mental Disorders (DSM-5) introduces Internet Gaming disorder (IGD) as a Substance-Related and Addictive Disorder in Section 3, Conditions for Further Study. Although research is in the nascent stages, existing studies demonstrate that IGD is associated with psychosocial distress including suicidality, and adverse vocational and educational outcomes in youth. Internet gaming disorder also shares substantial overlap with substance use, and it primarily affects adolescents, who rarely seek treatment on their own. Parents more often express concerns about their child's game playing behaviors, and data suggest that parents can have strong influences on it. This psychotherapy development study will evaluate feasibility, acceptability, and effect sizes of a behavioral intervention designed to help parents reduce gaming problems in their children. Sixty concerned parents and their children will complete parental and self-report inventories and structured diagnostic interviews regarding the child's gaming behaviors, substance use and psychosocial functioning. Participants will be randomized to either a control condition consisting of referral for mental health issues and family support services or to the same plus a 6-week family-based behavioral intervention designed to assist with better monitoring and regulating the child's game playing behaviors and encouraging and rewarding alternatives to game playing. Gaming and other problems will be assessed pre-treatment, mid-treatment, at the end of treatment, and at a 4-month follow-up. This study is unique in evaluating initial psychometric properties of a parental version of a measure that uses the DSM-5 criteria for IGD in a clinical sample, and it will also assess associations of IGD with substance use, psychological symptoms, and family functioning over time. Most importantly, this study will be the first randomized trial of an intervention designed to reduce gambling problems, and results are likely to guide future research and treatment efforts related to this condition.

Publications & conference data

No peer-reviewed publications indexed yet for this trial. Completed trials usually publish results within 12-18 months.