Authors (including presenting author) :
Chan KLP(1), Chan WH(1), Lam SW, Leung SY(1), Ng HM, So MN, Lee CK(1), Chan WP(1)
Affiliation :
(1) Department of Psychiatry, Queen Mary Hospital
Introduction :
Problematic Internet Use (PIU) has been a new maladaptive behavior born in the Internet technology era, leading to increasing concern. PIU can be broadly defined as “the uncontrollable usage of Internet that creates psychological, social, school and or work difficulties in a person’s life”. Department of Health’s survey in 2017 revealed there was a fourfold increase for primary school students spending more than 3 hours a day surfing the internet compared to 2014. The University of Hong Kong (2017) also revealed nearly 10% of the students were estimated to be at risk of gaming addiction or might have been addicted. A cognitive-behavioral group program involving parent intervention is piloted targeting upper primary students who are attending the child and adolescent psychiatric clinic. They have different diagnoses but comorbid with inattentive problems.
Objectives :
. To provide psychoeducation on PIU and its influence for the adolescent and their carers 2. To provide adolescents with strategies and skills to reduce internet use, improve problem solving and emotional regulation 3. To enhance parenting skills for carers
Methodology :
There were a total of 4 adolescent sessions and 3 parent sessions for this group. The group was held on weekly basis with 1.5 hours long for each session. There was one session of psychoeducation on PIU understanding for adolescents and their parents separately. The adolescent sessions focus on strategies to reduce internet use, emotional regulation and problem solving skills, and behavioral modification program based on daily schedule and function. The parent sessions put more emphasis on parenting, communication and negotiation skills, and setting up behavioral modification program. Adolescents participated in a separate group that met concurrently with the parents group for some pre-arranged activities, such as role play, setting up of behavioral modification program and game time. Homework were assigned by the end of sessions. Telecare was given to participants before each session to follow up homework and implementation of behavioral modification program. Pre and post questionnaires (Parental Stress Scale, Internet Habit Questionnaire and PIU knowledge scale) were given to measure parents’ stress level, adolescent’s time use on the Internet and their understanding of PIU. Satisfaction surveys of the group sessions were also completed by the participants, so as to evaluate the effectiveness of the group.
Result & Outcome :
Four adolescents and their parents had completed the support group. At the end of the group, there was a mean decrease of parental stress level by 6.35%. Besides, there was a mean decrease of weekly time spent on the Internet by 12.25 hours. Both parents and children revealed an increase in PIU-related knowledge by 18% and 20.5% respectively. They were satisfied with the support group with a mean satisfaction score of 4.43 out of 6.
Conclusion: The PIU support group was effective for both adolescents and parents in managing problematic internet use. Medium and long term follow-up on the sustainability of the group effectiveness is recommended. In the future, the PIU support group will be enhanced to the specific diagnostic groups as their underlying etiology and needs for PIU program may vary.
