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

Summary

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)

Conditions

• Internet Gaming Disorder
• Social Media Addiction

Interventions

BEHAVIORAL

Chatbot

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.

BEHAVIORAL

Control

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.

Sponsors & Collaborators

• Chinese University of Hong Kong

  lead OTHER

Principal Investigators

• Xue Yang, Doctoral · Chinese University of Hong Kong

Study Design

Allocation

RANDOMIZED

Purpose

SUPPORTIVE_CARE

Masking

SINGLE

Model

PARALLEL

Eligibility

Min Age

10 Years

Max Age

19 Years

Sex

ALL

Healthy Volunteers

Yes

Timeline & Regulatory

Start

2024-09-01

Primary Completion

2025-12-31

Completion

2025-12-31

Countries

• Hong Kong

Study Locations