WeChat Intervention for Smartphone Addiction in College Students: a Randomized Trial (smartphone)

Anhui Medical University

Status: Completed

Conditions: Smartphone Addiction

Treatments: Behavioral: WeChat Intervention Based on the IMB Model

Study type: Interventional

Funder types: Other

Identifiers

NCT06730152

No.81973064 (Other Grant/Funding Number)

83244555

Details and patient eligibility

About

The goal of this clinical trial is to assess the effectiveness of an intervention based on the Information-Motivation-Behavioral Skills (IMB) model to treat smartphone addiction in college students. The main questions it aims to answer are:

Does the IMB model-based intervention via WeChat public accounts significantly reduce smartphone addiction scores compared to a control group? Does the intervention lead to an increase in motivation and behavioral skills scores among participants? Researchers will compare the intervention group, which receives IMB-enhanced content through WeChat public accounts, to the control group, which maintains regular activities, to see if there are significant improvements in addiction scores, motivation, and behavioral skills in the intervention group.

Participants will:

Be stratified by gender and randomly assigned to either the intervention or control group.

The intervention group will receive information, motivation, and behavioral skills enhancement via WeChat public accounts over a period of 6 weeks.

Both groups will be assessed for smartphone addiction scores, information-motivation-behavioral skills scores, average daily smartphone use time, sleep duration, sleep quality, and somatic and psychological symptoms before and after the intervention.

Enrollment: 210 patients

Sex: All

Ages: 18 to 24 years old

Volunteers: Accepts Healthy Volunteers

Inclusion criteria

Meeting the criteria of the Smartphone Addiction Scale-Short Version (SAS-SV), with a score of ≥31 for males and ≥33 for females indicating smartphone addiction.

College students over 18 years old. Active use of WeChat software. Voluntary participation in this study and signing of the informed consent form.

Exclusion criteria

Currently not enrolled in school due to reasons such as suspension. Currently participating in other research projects. Self-reported diagnosis of any neurological or psychiatric disorder.

Trial design

Primary purpose: Prevention

Allocation: Randomized

Interventional model: Parallel Assignment

Masking: Double Blind

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210 participants in 2 patient groups

WeChat Information-Motivation-Behavioral Skills Model Intervention Group

Experimental group

Description:

The intervention group would undergo a six-week intervention program. Researchers promoted a public WeChat account to the intervention group, and participants received the intervention by following the account. They automatically received pushed articles or videos, providing them with relevant knowledge about overcoming smartphone addiction. Furthermore, they would be motivated to quit their addiction through real-life cases of smartphone addiction etc., in addition to some practical skills of overcoming.

Treatment:

Behavioral: WeChat Intervention Based on the IMB Model

Control group

No Intervention group

Description:

without any intervention, maintain normal life and study state