4-STEP Training Program for Social Media Addiction, Cognitive Fatigue, Psychological Distress, Academic Burnout and Procrastination Among Students (4-STEP-TPS)

September 10, 2026 updated by: Qasir Abbas, Government College University Faisalabad
This study aims to evaluate the effectiveness of a structured four-step training program for reducing social media addiction and its associated psychological and academic difficulties among school and university students. The program focuses on improving self-regulation, managing social media use, reducing cognitive fatigue, procrastination, academic burnout, and psychological distress. Participants will be assigned to experimental and control groups, and their outcomes will be assessed before and after the intervention.

Study Overview

Status

Not yet recruiting

Conditions

Intervention / Treatment

Detailed Description

This study, titled "A 4-Step Training Program for Social Media Addiction, Cognitive Fatigue, Procrastination, Academic Burnout, and Psychological Distress among School and University Students," aims to evaluate the effectiveness of a structured four-step training program in reducing social media addiction and its associated psychological and academic difficulties. The target population will consist of N = 400 school and university students. From the eligible participants, Participants will be divided into experimental and control groups, with 20 participants in each group from the school population and 20 participants in each group from the university population. The experimental groups will receive a structured four-step training program over four weeks, while the control groups will not receive the training intervention during the study period. Participants will be assessed at pre-test and post-test using standardized measures of social media addiction, cognitive fatigue, procrastination, academic burnout, and psychological distress. Data will be analyzed using SPSS, including descriptive and inferential statistical analyses to examine changes from pre-test to post-test and differences between the experimental and control groups.

Study Type

Interventional

Enrollment (Estimated)

40

Phase

  • Not Applicable

Contacts and Locations

This section provides the contact details for those conducting the study, and information on where this study is being conducted.

Study Contact

Study Contact Backup

  • Name: Qasir Abbas Associate Professor, Phd, Clinical Psychology
  • Phone Number: 923337683133
  • Email: qasirabbas47@yahoo.com

Study Locations

  • Pakistan
    • Punjab Province
      • Faisalabad, Punjab Province, Pakistan, 38000
        • Government College University Faisalabad

Participation Criteria

Researchers look for people who fit a certain description, called eligibility criteria. Some examples of these criteria are a person's general health condition or prior treatments.

Eligibility Criteria

Ages Eligible for Study

  • Adult

Accepts Healthy Volunteers

Yes

Description

Inclusion Criteria:

  • • Age range: 18-29 years

    • No physical, psychiatric, or psychological conditions
    • Minimum score of 84 on the Social Networking Addiction Scale (SNAS)

Exclusion Criteria:

  • Age below 18 or above 29 years

    • Presence of any physical, psychiatric, or psychological conditions
    • Score below 84 on the Social Networking Addiction Scale (SNAS)

Study Plan

This section provides details of the study plan, including how the study is designed and what the study is measuring.

How is the study designed?

Design Details

  • Primary Purpose: Treatment
  • Allocation: Randomized
  • Interventional Model: Parallel Assignment
  • Masking: None (Open Label)

Arms and Interventions

Participant Group / Arm
Intervention / Treatment
Experimental: Experimental group

Behavioral: 4-STEP-Training Program for Social Media Addiction (4-STEP-TPS) 4 Modules with 1 Module being delivered in 1 weekly session of approximately 90 minutes. The details of each module/step is described as follows: Step

  1. (Module 1): S = Screening, Assessment and Psychoeducation: Involves screening and assessment of the problem, interpretation of the results, feedback and psychoeducation, identifying and breaking the resistance, motivation, and conceptualization. Step
  2. (Module 2): T = Treatment Conceptualization and Planning: Involves pattern identification, distortion identification, as well as pattern and distortions modifications. Step 3 (Module 3): E = Effective Management Strategies: Involves management strategies to treat the earlier identified patterns as well as the implementation and confirmation of activities via a Pattern Schedule Chart. Step 4 (Module 4): P = Prevention (Lapse-Relapse): Involves self-reflection and support building, monitoring and dependency check
Behavioral: 4-STEP-TPS

Behavioral: 4-STEP-Training Program for Social Media Addiction (4-STEP-TPS) 4 Modules with 1 Module being delivered in 1 weekly session of approximately 90 minutes. The details of each module/step is described as follows: Step

  1. (Module 1): S = Screening, Assessment and Psychoeducation: Involves screening and assessment of the problem, interpretation of the results, feedback and psychoeducation, identifying and breaking the resistance, motivation, and conceptualization. Step
  2. (Module 2): T = Treatment Conceptualization and Planning: Involves pattern identification, distortion identification, as well as pattern and distortions modifications. Step 3 (Module 3): E = Effective Management Strategies: Involves management strategies to treat the earlier identified patterns as well as the implementation and confirmation of activities via a Pattern Schedule Chart. Step 4 (Module 4): P = Prevention (Lapse-Relapse): Involves self-reflection and support building, monitoring and dependency check a
No Intervention: Control Group
No intervention will be given to the control group

What is the study measuring?

Primary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure
Measure Description
Time Frame
Social Networking Addiction Scale ( SNAS)
Time Frame: At screening after 4 weeks, and reassessment upto 6 months
The SNA scale is designed to measure the level of social media addiction. The SNA scale is comprised of six subscales, namely salience, mood modification, tolerance, withdrawal, conflict, and relapse (citation). Each subscale has 3 to 4 items, and each item is rated between "strongly disagree=1" and score>84 reported social media addiction. The scale has shown a strong test-retest reliability of 0.88 and good validity, as reported by Shahnawaz and Rehman (2020).
At screening after 4 weeks, and reassessment upto 6 months
Multidimensional Fatigue Inventory
Time Frame: At screening after 4 weeks, reassessment up to 6 months]
Multidimensional Fatigue Inventory (MFI-20) is a 20-item self-report instrument developed to assess fatigue as a multidimensional construct. It measures five dimensions of fatigue: general fatigue, physical fatigue, reduced activity, reduced motivation, and mental fatigue, with each dimension consisting of four items. Higher scores indicate greater levels of fatigue (Westenberger et al. 2022).
At screening after 4 weeks, reassessment up to 6 months]
Maslach Burnout Inventory
Time Frame: At screening upto 4 weeks and reassessment up to 6 months
The Mashlach Burnout Inventory (MBI) is a widely used self-report instrument for assessing burnout. It measures burnout across three core dimensions: Exhaustion (EX), Cynicism (CY), and Academic Efficacy (AE). In the present study, the 16-item version of the MBI was used to a
At screening upto 4 weeks and reassessment up to 6 months
Tukman Procrastination Scale
Time Frame: At screening, after 4 weeks, and reassessment up to 6 months
Tuckman Procrastination Scale (TPS) is a self-report measure designed to assess an individual's tendency to delay or postpone tasks that need to be completed. It is used to evaluate procrastination behavior, particularly the tendency to avoid or delay academic tasks despite their importance. In the present study, the scale was used to assess academic procrastination, including the dimensions of Delay Procrastination and Avoidance of Difficulty(Avşar, Baltaci, and Özer 2026).
At screening, after 4 weeks, and reassessment up to 6 months
Depression Anxiety Stress Scale
Time Frame: At screening, after 4 weeks, and reassessment up to 6 months
Depression, Anxiety and Stress Scale The Depression Anxiety and Stress Scale-21 (DASS-21) is a 21-item self-report instrument designed to assess three dimensions of negative emotional states: depression, anxiety, and stress, with seven items representing each dimension (Gomez, Stavropoulos, and Griffiths 2020)
At screening, after 4 weeks, and reassessment up to 6 months

Collaborators and Investigators

This is where you will find people and organizations involved with this study.

Sponsor

Government College University Faisalabad

Investigators

  • Principal Investigator: Qasir Abbas, Phd, Clinical Psychology, Government College University Faisalabad

Study record dates

These dates track the progress of study record and summary results submissions to ClinicalTrials.gov. Study records and reported results are reviewed by the National Library of Medicine (NLM) to make sure they meet specific quality control standards before being posted on the public website.

Study Major Dates

Study Start (Estimated)

September 20, 2026

Primary Completion (Estimated)

November 15, 2026

Study Completion (Estimated)

November 30, 2026

Study Registration Dates

First Submitted

September 10, 2026

First Submitted That Met QC Criteria

September 10, 2026

First Posted (Actual)

September 15, 2026

Study Record Updates

Last Update Posted (Actual)

September 15, 2026

Last Update Submitted That Met QC Criteria

September 10, 2026

Last Verified

September 1, 2026

More Information

Terms related to this study

Keywords

Additional Relevant MeSH Terms

Other Study ID Numbers

  • 4-STEP-TPS for Adults

Plan for Individual participant data (IPD)

Plan to Share Individual Participant Data (IPD)?

NO

Drug and device information, study documents

Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated drug product

No

Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated device product

No

This information was retrieved directly from the website clinicaltrials.gov without any changes. If you have any requests to change, remove or update your study details, please contact register@clinicaltrials.gov. As soon as a change is implemented on clinicaltrials.gov, this will be updated automatically on our website as well.

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