Chatbot Intervention to Reduce Common Digital Addictions, Sedentary Behaviors and Mental Distress Among Adolescents

The Chinese University of Hong Kong

Status: Enrolling

Conditions: Internet Gaming Disorder; Social Media Addiction

Treatments: Behavioral: Control; Behavioral: Chatbot

Study type: Interventional

Funder types: Other

Identifiers

NCT06821373

20210481

Details and patient eligibility

About

The goal of the study is to investigate the efficacy of a secondary low-intensity stage of change (SoC) and motivational interviewing (MI)-based Chatbot-assisted intervention in reducing digital addictions in adolescents with Internet gaming disorder (IGD) and/or social media addiction (SMA) by conducting a RCT.

Hypothesis: The intervention group will show a greater reduction in rates of IGD and/or SMA at post-treatment and 3-month follow-up than the control group.

Design and subjects: A two-armed RCT between the intervention group and psycho-educational control group for adolescents aged 10-19 with excessive screen time. Screening, baseline, post-programme, and 3-month follow-up evaluations will be conducted.

Participants will:

Be randomly assigned to online brief intervention or psycho-educational control

Complete questionnaires evaluating 1 ) Primary outcomes (IGD, SMA), 2) Secondary outcomes (sedentary lifestyle, mental distress, quality of life, eHealth literacy) and 3) Mediators/mechanisms (autonomy, competence)

Enrollment: 330 estimated patients

Sex: All

Ages: 10 to 19 years old

Volunteers: Accepts Healthy Volunteers

Inclusion criteria

• Students at grades 5-6 in primary schools or grades 7-12 in secondary schools,
• Positive screening results of IGD and/or SMA) based on the validated screening tools
• Using smartphone or Internet on a daily base, 4) students' and parental consent,
• Chinese speaking.

Exclusion criteria

• Current use of any psychotropic medication.

Trial design

Primary purpose: Supportive Care

Allocation: Randomized

Interventional model: Parallel Assignment

Masking: Single Blind

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330 participants in 2 patient groups

Control

Sham Comparator group

Description:

Participants will receive educational but not SoC and MI-based materials about excessive digital use, IGD, and SMA. Such psycho-educational interventions are widely used in behavioral/mental health promotion and have been demonstrated to be effective in increasing knowledge and awareness of behavioral and mental problems. Based on a comprehensive literature review and our previous psycho-educational programs for behavioral/mental health promotion, the research team will design the psycho-educational materials. Themes include definitions, factors, and health consequences of excessive digital use, IGD, and SMA, information on healthy lifestyles, self-regulation skills, and help-seeking resources.

Treatment:

Behavioral: Control

Chatbot

Experimental group

Description:

The intervention includes five modules based on the five stages of Stages of change. Chatbots will build up a rapport with the participants, monitor their stage with a few simple questions based on previous Stages of Change studies, and provide stage-tailored packages of response, advice, and feedback (one of the five modules) accordingly to enhance their motivation and self-efficacy each week. For those who click 'yes' to a question assessing the first stage of change (PC), Chatbot will make a record and automatically ask questions assessing the next stage; for those who click 'no', Chatbot will automatically send them the module corresponding to their SoC via WhatsApp. Each module will take 10-15 minutes. In total, it will take 1 hour to complete all the modules.

Treatment:

Behavioral: Chatbot