Effectiveness of Group Counseling based on Choice Theory on Reducing Internet Addiction

Internet is an essential and routinely used tool for communication, information and entertainment. Some psychological and counseling theories have proved effective in preventing and reducing various kinds of addictions like internet addiction. The present study aimed at investigating the effectiveness of group counseling based on Choice Theory on reducing internet addiction among Police Staff‘s children studying in high school.
The design of this study was pretest-posttest with control group. The statistical population included all Police Staff‘s children studying in high school in Saveh in 2012-2013. Participants were 30 addicted students who were selected through Convenience method and assigned randomly to experimental and control groups. Data were collected through instrument of Young’s Internet Addiction Test Scale (1996) for high school students. Then subjects in experimental group participated in eight group counseling sessions based on Choice Theory, but the students in control group received no kind of instruction.
The results were analyzed using the covariance test. It showed group counseling based on Choice Theory could decrease internet addiction among high school male students in experimental group (p In General, the results of the research suggested that group counseling based on Choice Theory could significantly decrease internet addiction among children of Iran's Police Force personnel.