Clinical trial NCT06730152: WeChat Intervention for Smartphone Addiction in College Students: a Randomized Trial
Official title: Efficacy of a WeChat Public Account-based Intervention for Smartphone Addiction Among Chinese Undergraduate Students: a Randomized Controlled Trial
Study type: INTERVENTIONAL
Overall status: COMPLETED
Phase: NA
Conditions: Smartphone Addiction
Keywords: smartphone addiction
behavior change
Information-Motivation-Behavioral Skills Model
Lead sponsor: Anhui Medical University
Sponsor class: OTHER
First posted: 2024-12-12
Enrollment: 210
Sex: ALL
Minimum age (years): 18
Maximum age (years): 24
Standard ages: ADULT
Accepts healthy volunteers: yes
Allocation: RANDOMIZED
Intervention model: PARALLEL
Primary purpose: PREVENTION

Brief summary: The goal of this clinical trial is to assess the effectiveness of an intervention based on the Information-Motivation-Behavioral Skills (IMB) model to treat smartphone addiction in college students. The main questions it aims to answer are:

Does the IMB model-based intervention via WeChat public accounts significantly reduce smartphone addiction scores compared to a control group? Does the intervention lead to an increase in motivation and behavioral skills scores among participants? Researchers will compare the intervention group, which receives IMB-enhanced content through WeChat public accounts, to the control group, which maintains regular activities, to see if there are significant improvements in addiction scores, motivation, and behavioral skills in the intervention group.

Participants will:

Be stratified by gender and randomly assigned to either the intervention or control group.

The intervention group will receive information, motivation, and behavioral skills enhancement via WeChat public accounts over a period of 6 weeks.

Both groups will be assessed for smartphone addiction scores, information-motivation-behavioral skills scores, average daily smartphone use time, sleep duration, sleep quality, and somatic and psychological symptoms before and after the intervention.


Eligibility criteria: Inclusion Criteria:

Meeting the criteria of the Smartphone Addiction Scale-Short Version (SAS-SV), with a score of ≥31 for males and ≥33 for females indicating smartphone addiction.

College students over 18 years old. Active use of WeChat software. Voluntary participation in this study and signing of the informed consent form.

Exclusion Criteria:

Currently not enrolled in school due to reasons such as suspension. Currently participating in other research projects. Self-reported diagnosis of any neurological or psychiatric disorder.

Primary outcomes:
measure: smartphone addiction scale scores
timeFrame: From enrollment to the end of treatment at 6 weeks]
Secondary outcomes:
measure: average daily smartphone use time
timeFrame: From enrollment to the end of treatment at 6 weeks
measure: sleep duration
timeFrame: From enrollment to the end of treatment at 6 weeks]
measure: sleep quality
timeFrame: From enrollment to the end of treatment at 6 weeks]
Other outcomes:
Locations:
city: Hefei
country: China
facility: Anhui Medical University
state: Anhui
Study officials:
References:
citation: Kwon M, Lee JY, Won WY, Park JW, Min JA, Hahn C, Gu X, Choi JH, Kim DJ. Development and validation of a smartphone addiction scale (SAS). PLoS One. 2013;8(2):e56936. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0056936. Epub 2013 Feb 27.
citation: Bi J, Yang W, Hao P, Zhao Y, Wei D, Sun Y, Lin Y, Sun M, Chen X, Luo X, Li S, Zhang W, Wang X. WeChat as a Platform for Baduanjin Intervention in Patients With Stable Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease in China: Retrospective Randomized Controlled Trial. JMIR Mhealth Uhealth. 2021 Feb 2;9(2):e23548. doi: 10.2196/23548.
citation: Bakir E, Cavusoglu H, Mengen E. Effects of the Information-Motivation-Behavioral Skills Model on Metabolic Control of Adolescents with Type 1 Diabetes in Turkey: Randomized Controlled Study. J Pediatr Nurs. 2021 May-Jun;58:e19-e27. doi: 10.1016/j.pedn.2020.11.019. Epub 2020 Dec 25.