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Online Self-Help Acceptance and Commitment Therapy Module for College Students with Higher Gaming Disorder During COVID-19: A Pilot Study

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  28 September 2023

Dongyan Ding ,
Mengdie Pan ,
Wenjuan Wang ,
Xiucheng Wang ,
Simin Ma ,
Yuqing Yang ,
Yonghui Huang ,
Menghui Guo  and
Yizhen Wu
Dongyan Ding
Affiliation:
Bengbu Medical College, Bengbu, China
Mengdie Pan*
Affiliation:
Bengbu Medical College, Bengbu, China
Wenjuan Wang*
Affiliation:
Bengbu Medical College, Bengbu, China
Xiucheng Wang
Affiliation:
Bengbu Medical College, Bengbu, China
Simin Ma
Affiliation:
Bengbu Medical College, Bengbu, China
Yuqing Yang
Affiliation:
Bengbu Medical College, Bengbu, China
Yonghui Huang
Affiliation:
Bengbu Medical College, Bengbu, China
Menghui Guo
Affiliation:
Bengbu Medical College, Bengbu, China
Yizhen Wu
Affiliation:
Bengbu Medical College, Bengbu, China
*
Corresponding authors: Mengdie Pan, Email: 330310117@qq.com; Wenjuan Wang, Email: wwj.wen@163.com
Corresponding authors: Mengdie Pan, Email: 330310117@qq.com; Wenjuan Wang, Email: wwj.wen@163.com
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Abstract

During the COVID-19 pandemic, there was an increase in online gaming behaviour among college students. This study aimed to examine the impact of online self-help interventions consisting of different components within the Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT) framework on college students’ gaming disorder and gaming frequency. Additionally, it evaluated the effectiveness of both interventions in addressing psychological distress among college students during the COVID-19 pandemic. One intervention was a full ACT program, which consists of six core components, while the other intervention focused on the engaged components of ACT (specifically targeting value-based actions). The study employed a 2 conditions (Full ACT vs. Engaged ACT) × 3 times (pre-, mid- and post-program) design to examine the effectiveness of these interventions. Each intervention consisted of 10 sessions, delivered at a frequency of five sessions per week over a 2-week period for both groups. The participants in this study were enrolled in two online classes. Participants with gaming disorder scores in the top 20% were selected and assigned to either the Full group (N = 49) or the Engaged group (N = 41) for the interventions. The study assessed outcome variables, including gaming disorder, psychological flexibility, daily gaming hours, weekly gaming days and psychological distress, at pre-intervention, mid-intervention, post-intervention and one-month follow-up for both groups. No significant differences were observed between the two groups on these outcomes at the pre-intervention stage. The findings of this study indicate that both interventions effectively reduced gaming disorder and weekly gaming frequency, while enhancing psychological flexibility. Nonetheless, the Engaged group exhibited a significant reduction in daily gaming hours. There was no substantial change in psychological distress in either group during and after the intervention. The implications and limitations of this study were also reported.

Keywords

acceptance and commitment therapygaming disorderengaged componentspsychological flexibilitycomponents researchfrequency of gamingpsychological distress
Type
Standard Paper
Information
Behaviour Change , Volume 40 , Issue 4 , December 2023 , pp. 278 - 296
Copyright
Copyright © The Author(s), 2023. Published by Cambridge University Press on behalf of the Australian Association for Cognitive and Behaviour Therapy

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Footnotes

*

Dongyan Ding, Mengdie Pan and Wenjuan Wang are the co-first authors; they have contributed equally to this work.

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