Improving the Health-Related Quality of Life in Adolescents with Internet Gaming Disorder

The present study aimed to examine whether the treatment of Internet Gaming Disorder (IGD) inadolescents via Attentional Bias Modification (ABM) improves their health-related quality of life.

34 adolescents with IGD who were 12-17 years old were randomly assigned to experimental (n = 16) andcontrol (n = 18) groups. The experimental group received ABM, while no interventions were delivered to the controlgroup. Attentional bias, IGD severity, and health-related quality of life were assessed using Modified Stroop Task,Internet Gaming Disorder-20 (IGD-20), and KIDSCREEN-52 questionnaires, respectively. Data from pre-test, posttest, and two months follow-up measurements were analyzed using two-way mixed measures ANOVA and Fisher’sleast significant difference (LSD) via SPSS software.

ABM successfully reduced attentional bias and IGD severity and improved health-related quality of life inadolescents of the experimental group (p < 0.05). These significant changes were observed at post-test and two monthsfollow-up. Meanwhile, no significant change occurred in the control group (p > 0.05).

It could be concluded that ABM not only reduces the severity of IGD in adolescents, but also improvestheir health-related quality of life, although further research is required for the understanding of its mechanisms ofeffects.