Five-week of solution-focused group counseling successfully reduces internet addiction among college students: A pilot study Cover Image

Five-week of solution-focused group counseling successfully reduces internet addiction among college students: A pilot study
Five-week of solution-focused group counseling successfully reduces internet addiction among college students: A pilot study

Author(s): Yu Pu, Yuting Liu, Yawei Qi, Ziyou Yan, Xinhe Zhang, Qinghua He
Subject(s): Social psychology and group interaction, Behaviorism, Substance abuse and addiction, Health and medicine and law
Published by: Akadémiai Kiadó
Keywords: future time perspective; internet addiction (IA); psychotherapy; resting-state EEG; solution-focused group counseling (SFGC);

Summary/Abstract: Background and Aims: In the digital age, Internet addiction (IA) was deemed an epidemic and few treatments had been effectively developed for it. Here, we proposed a solution-focused group counseling (SFGC) as a potentially solution to reduce Internet addiction among college students. The present study examined the short- and long-term effect of a five-week solution-focused group counseling intervention on Internet addiction. Methods: Thirty-two participants were recruited and randomly assigned to either the experimental or control group, and twenty-six participants completed the whole intervention. The experimental group (n 5 14) received the intervention, while control group (n 5 12) did not. The revised version of the Chinese Internet Addiction Scale (CIAS-R), the Future Time Perspective, and resting-state EEG were administered pre-intervention, post-intervention, and at two follow-up tests (one month and six months after intervention). Results: The results showed that the scores of the CIAS-R in the experimental group were significantly decreased after intervention, and these effects could be sustained for one month and six months follow-ups. Additionally, the intervention conducted an increase in future time perspective. EEG results further suggested that the alpha, beta, and gamma absolute power decreased after the intervention. Conclusion: These results from the pilot-study primarily suggested that solution-focused group counseling could be an effective intervention for Internet addiction.

  • Issue Year: 12/2023
  • Issue No: 4
  • Page Range: 964-971
  • Page Count: 8
  • Language: English