Gaming-based program for internet gaming disorder: feasibility and preliminary outcomes of a structured camp program
Abstract
Background Although controlled trials support several psychosocial interventions for adolescent internet gaming disorder (IGD), short, highly structured residential camp formats remain underreported, particularly regarding feasibility, safety, and process data from routine service settings. Objective To evaluate the feasibility, safety, and short-term entry-to-exit signals of a structured gaming-based camp program using retrospective, de-identified routinely collected service data, with a focus on implementation evidence for a brief, highly structured residential format. Methods We conducted a single-group entry-to-exit evaluation of a 7-day structured camp in 12 adolescents aged 11–16 years clinically diagnosed with IGD by psychiatrists using DSM-5 criteria. Entry and exit assessments were organized hierarchically, with the Gaming Disorder Screening Scale (GDSS), the Game Addiction Scale–7 (GAS-7), and the Visual Analog Scale (VAS) craving score as primary outcomes; the Barratt Impulsiveness Scale–11 (BIS-11), Zung Self-Rating Depression Scale (SDS), Zung Self-Rating Anxiety Scale (SAS), Social Avoidance and Distress Scale (SADS), and Chinese version of the Interpersonal Reactivity Index (IRI-C) as supportive secondary outcomes; and camp residential counselor–rated Conners scores and the Stroop task as exploratory external-rating and objective complementary indicators, respectively. Wilcoxon signed-rank tests reported effect size r and Hodges–Lehmann (HL) median difference…
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