4-STEP-Training Program for Doomscrolling, Cyberchondriac Behavior and Psychiatric Symptoms (4-STEP-TPS) Among Individuals With Social Media Addiction ((4-STEP-TPS))
17 juni 2026 uppdaterad av: Qasir Abbas, Government College University Faisalabad
Effectiveness of 4-Step Training Program for Doomscrolling, Cyberchondriac Behavior and Psychiatric Symptoms Among Individuals With Social Media Addiction: A Randomized Trial
The goal of this clinical trial is to evaluate the effectiveness of the 4-Step Training Program for Social Media Addiction (4-STEP-TPS) in reducing social media addiction, doomscrolling, cyberchondriac behavior, depressive symptoms, and health anxiety among young adults.
The study aims to promote healthier digital habits, psychological well-being, and improved daily functioning.
Participants with elevated social media addiction will complete a 4-week intervention with one session per week.
They will be randomly assigned to either an intervention group or a waitlist control group.
Pre- and post-intervention assessments will be conducted to determine the program's effectiveness.
Studieöversikt
Status
Har inte rekryterat ännu
Intervention / Behandling
Detaljerad beskrivning
In this research, a sample of approximately N = 300 young adults will be initially enrolled for eligibility screening from public and private universities in Faisalabad and Sahiwal, Pakistan, using purposive sampling techniques. Participants will be aged between 18 and 28 years and will have no history of severe physical, psychiatric, or psychological disorders. After eligibility assessment and screening based on standardized measures, N = 80 participants will be selected and randomly allocated to the experimental and waitlist control groups.
This study is expected to provide valuable evidence for mental health practitioners regarding effective interventions for managing social media addiction among young adults. The 4-STEP Training Program is anticipated to enhance participants' awareness and understanding of problematic digital behaviors, including doomscrolling and cyberchondriac behavior. The intervention is also expected to reduce depressive symptoms and health anxiety, improve self-regulation and promote healthier digital habits. Furthermore, the program is expected to enhance psychological well-being, academic functioning, and overall productivity while significantly reducing levels of social media addiction.
Studietyp
Interventionell
Inskrivning (Beräknad)
80
Fas
- Inte tillämpbar
Kontakter och platser
Det här avsnittet innehåller kontaktuppgifter för dem som genomför studien och information om var denna studie genomförs.
Studiekontakt
- Namn: Qasir Abbas, PhD Clinical Psychology
- Telefonnummer: 923337683133
- E-post: qasirabbas47@yahoo.com
Studera Kontakt Backup
- Namn: Atika Shafi, MS Clinical Psychology
Studieorter
-
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Punjab Province
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Faisalabad, Punjab Province, Pakistan, 38000
- Government College University Faisalabad
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Kontakt:
- Qasir Abbas, PhD Clinical Psychology
- Telefonnummer: 923337683133
- E-post: qasirabbas47@yahoo.com
-
-
Deltagandekriterier
Forskare letar efter personer som passar en viss beskrivning, så kallade behörighetskriterier. Några exempel på dessa kriterier är en persons allmänna hälsotillstånd eller tidigare behandlingar.
Urvalskriterier
Åldrar som är berättigade till studier
- Vuxen
Tar emot friska volontärer
Ja
Beskrivning
Inclusion Criteria:
- Age range: 18-29 years
- No physical, psychiatric, or psychological conditions
- Minimum score of 84 on the Social Networking Addiction Scale (SNAS)
- Minimum score of 23 on the Cyberchondria Severity Scale (CSS-12)
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)
- Score below 23 on the Cyberchondria Severity Scale (CSS-12)
Studieplan
Det här avsnittet ger detaljer om studieplanen, inklusive hur studien är utformad och vad studien mäter.
Hur är studien utformad?
Designdetaljer
- Primärt syfte: Behandling
- Tilldelning: Randomiserad
- Interventionsmodell: Parallellt uppdrag
- Maskning: Ingen (Open Label)
Vapen och interventioner
Deltagargrupp / Arm |
Intervention / Behandling |
|---|---|
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Inget ingripande: Kontrollgrupp
Inget ingripande
|
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Experimentell: Experimentell grupp: Individuell miljö
4-STEG-träningsprogram i 1-1-inställning
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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 and slip plans and support additions
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Vad mäter studien?
Primära resultatmått
Resultatmått |
Åtgärdsbeskrivning |
Tidsram |
|---|---|---|
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Social Networking Addiction Scale (SNAS)
Tidsram: Vid screening, efter 4 veckor, och omprövning upp till 6 månader
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Social Networking Addiction Scale (SNAS) utvecklades för att mäta beroende av alla former av socialt nätverkande över sexdimensionella framträdande (punkter 1-4), humörmodifiering (punkter 5-7), tolerans (punkter 8-10), abstinens ( punkt 11-14), konflikt (punkt 15-17) och återfall (punkt 18-21) (Shahnawaz & Rehman, 2020).
SNAS är en självrapporterad skala som innebär en skala med 21 objekt betygsatt på en 7-gradig Likert-skala som sträcker sig från 1 (håller inte med) till 7 (instämmer starkt).
Poängen kan variera från 21 till 147.
Varje poäng över en totalpoäng på 84 betyder beroende.
Skalan har visat god test-re-test reliabilitet på 0,88 och god validitet som rapporterats av Shahnawaz och Rehman (2020).
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Vid screening, efter 4 veckor, och omprövning upp till 6 månader
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Cyberchondria Severity Scale (CSS-12)
Tidsram: At screening, after 4 weeks, and reassessment up to 6 months
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The Cyberchondria Severity Scale-12 (CSS-12), developed by Eoin McElroy et al. (2019), is a 12-item self-report measure assessing excessive, anxiety-provoking online health searches across four dimensions: compulsion, distress, excessiveness, and reassurance-seeking.
Items are rated on a 5-point Likert scale (1 = Never to 5 = Always), with total scores ranging from 12-60; higher scores indicate greater cyberchondria.
The scale is brief, reliable, and valid, suitable for both clinical and non-clinical populations, and widely used to evaluate problematic health-related online behavior.
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At screening, after 4 weeks, and reassessment up to 6 months
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Doomscrolling Scale (DS)
Tidsram: At screening, after 4 weeks, and reassessment up to 6 months
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The Doomscrolling Scale was developed to assess compulsive engagement with negative online news content and excessive scrolling behavior, particularly during times of crisis (Sharma et al., 2022).
The scale measures three core dimensions: obsessive news consumption, emotional distress, and behavioral compulsion.
It is a self-report instrument consisting of 15 items rated on a 5-point Likert scale ranging from 1 (never) to 5 (always).
The total score is calculated by summing all item responses, with higher scores indicating greater levels of doomscrolling behavior.
The scale has demonstrated good internal consistency (Cronbach's α = 0.88) and satisfactory construct validity (Sharma et al., 2022).
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At screening, after 4 weeks, and reassessment up to 6 months
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Short Health Anxiety Inventory (SHAI)
Tidsram: At screening, after 4 weeks, and reassessment up to 6 months
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The Short Health Anxiety Inventory (SHAI) was developed to assess health-related anxiety and preoccupation with physical symptoms, independent of actual medical status (Salkovskis et al., 2002).
The scale measures two main dimensions: perceived likelihood of illness and perceived negative consequences of illness.
It is a self-report instrument consisting of 18 items, each presenting four response options scored from 0 to 3, reflecting increasing levels of health anxiety.
Total scores range from 0 to 54, with higher scores indicating greater levels of health anxiety.
The SHAI has demonstrated excellent internal consistency, with reported Cronbach's alpha values ranging from 0.86 to 0.95, and strong convergent and construct validity.
The HAI is a reliable and valid measure of health anxiety (Salkovskis et al., 2002).
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At screening, after 4 weeks, and reassessment up to 6 months
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Patient Health Questionnaire-9 (PHQ-9)
Tidsram: At screening, after 4 weeks, and reassessment up to 6 months
|
The Patient Health Questionnaire-9 (PHQ-9) was developed to measure the severity of depressive symptoms based on the diagnostic criteria of major depressive disorder (Kroenke et al., 2001).
The scale assesses nine core symptoms of depression, including low mood, loss of interest, fatigue, sleep disturbances, appetite changes, concentration difficulties, feelings of worthlessness, psychomotor changes, and suicidal ideation.
The PHQ-9 is a self-report instrument consisting of 9 items rated on a 4-point Likert scale ranging from 0 (not at all) to 3 (nearly every day).
Total scores range from 0 to 27, with higher scores indicating greater severity of depressive symptoms.
The Patient Health Questionnaire (PHQ) is a self-administered version of the PRIME-MD diagnostic instrument for common mental disorders(The PHQ-9 - Kroenke - 2001 - Journal of General Internal Medicine - Wiley Online Library, 2001).
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At screening, after 4 weeks, and reassessment up to 6 months
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Samarbetspartners och utredare
Det är här du hittar personer och organisationer som är involverade i denna studie.
Utredare
- Huvudutredare: Qasir Abbas, PhD Clinical Psychology, Government College University Faisalabad
Studieavstämningsdatum
Dessa datum spårar framstegen för inlämningar av studieposter och sammanfattande resultat till ClinicalTrials.gov. Studieposter och rapporterade resultat granskas av National Library of Medicine (NLM) för att säkerställa att de uppfyller specifika kvalitetskontrollstandarder innan de publiceras på den offentliga webbplatsen.
Studera stora datum
Studiestart (Beräknad)
5 juli 2026
Primärt slutförande (Beräknad)
10 september 2026
Avslutad studie (Beräknad)
30 september 2026
Studieregistreringsdatum
Först inskickad
17 juni 2026
Först inskickad som uppfyllde QC-kriterierna
17 juni 2026
Första postat (Faktisk)
23 juni 2026
Uppdateringar av studier
Senaste uppdatering publicerad (Faktisk)
23 juni 2026
Senaste inskickade uppdateringen som uppfyllde QC-kriterierna
17 juni 2026
Senast verifierad
1 februari 2026
Mer information
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Nyckelord
Ytterligare relevanta MeSH-villkor
Andra studie-ID-nummer
- GCUF_CT_STP
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