Adolescents’ Perceptions of a Relapse Prevention Treatment for Problematic Gaming—A Qualitative Study
Abstract
:1. Introduction
2. Materials and Methods
2.1. Participants
2.2. Intervention
2.3. Procedure
2.4. Data Analysis
3. Results
3.1. The Adolescents’ Experiences of the Treatment
3.1.1. Strategies for Less Gaming
After all, it wasn’t bad to set goals, to sort of discuss, and both set goals and discuss how my gaming affected may daily life. I don’t remember now, but we wrote down a lot of different things that were affected, like that I … didn’t do my, I didn’t take care of schoolwork, I didn’t do my homework, I didn’t eat very well, in a sort of way I already knew before: it can’t go on like this. But I didn’t realise how much was affected.—Girl 7
Yes, but I suppose the goal [of the treatment] was that I should be calmer when playing and, like, not play as much. I suppose I thought about that sometimes when I was playing, and then I calmed down. Just having that thought in your head, that you go there [to treatment] to reduce your gaming makes you think while playing that “OK, I suppose I should be calm since I am in treatment.” Yes, I think it has helped me to see how I play, how I should play and what makes me angry—and how to think in order not to get angry.—Boy 6
You shouldn’t use it for distraction; there are other things you can do. I suppose that was the biggest goal we set.—Boy 1
Control my gaming? Mm, well, not control but perhaps, like, balance my gaming. Before, I just gamed, let’s say if my mate said, “Shall we game?” then I just said “OK” but now it is “I must do my homework first.”—Boy 2
Having these pause periods without gaming, that did help, because it made me realise that … that the gaming actually didn’t do anything for me; I am just as happy without it.—Boy 3
That I was to try to spend more time with my mates outdoors and away from the gaming. That I would try out, like, going without it on certain holidays or certain days and see how it goes, and if it works well, and if it worked well for me not to play games for, let’s say, a week, or a period of time, then we extended it to 2 or 3 weeks … Personally, I believe that I have changed my gaming myself, with the help of my own way of thinking. The treatment planted the seed into my head.—Boy 3
Like, getting ideas about how to turn it off, so that I don’t begin a new match when I have 5 min left of my game time.—Boy 4
3.1.2. Perceptions about the Home Assignments
It was more that it felt like homework, I already had homework to do and then I had this assignment as well, so it felt kind of like homework. Then, well, it takes away a bit of time out of my day so I thought, I don’t want to do it [laughs].—Boy 2
One thing I thought was a bit troublesome, or how to put it, I was given pieces of paper and so on, I was to write, like on the first or second day, I was to make a gaming chart, like draw it, when I play; it was OK but it was kind of like getting homework, and you know I can’t be bothered, if I have like one piece it’s OK but if I have four or five I can’t be bothered doing them.—Boy 2
Yes sure, they were interesting, like “Make a cake.” There were many different things to think about, there were different tasks to think about, what you want to change and, yes, there was a lot of interesting homework.—Boy 6
3.1.3. Relations with and Importance of Clinician
Yes, I thought it was much more fun, because he understood what I was talking about and what I meant, so, yes, that made a big difference.—Boy 5
I would have thought that, surely, it’s easier if you’re a gamer yourself as a clinician, because then you can recognise more things than if you don’t play games at all, but then it’s also good to find out how people behave so that you get a more general idea of what most other people do rather than just you yourself and one other person.—Boy 6
He played a game that’s the same as the one I play, so he, like, knew. If I was to mention the game then he knew, like, what I was talking about. It felt easier to talk with him. If I was to talk about the game with you, it would be, like, difficult, to explain things, like, because you don’t know what I’m talking about. He knew what I was talking about.—Boy 2
It was quite good to be able to talk about what I was feeling; I thought it was a relief to get things out that I’ve been wanting to say for several years, and then it was of course very, I really appreciated this help. To get things out that I wanted to say, I would say that was a very good feeling, because I have held those thoughts back for a very long time.—Boy 5
3.2. Effect of the Treatment
3.2.1. Changed Mindset about Gaming
Once again, it was always in my mind that it was something negative. This treatment sort of made me see this more clearly and think about the reasons—I mean, the negative effects gaming can have on my life.—Boy 3
It’s that you talk about the drawbacks, you talk about it. It’s something I hadn’t thought about before the treatment.—Boy 1
Well, I don’t know what I thought before, I sort of didn’t think about—sort of that it was problematic or something; now I understand that it’s bad to be so deep into it and that you should sort of not take it so seriously, and so on.—Boy 6
I finished the treatment perhaps a month ago and I have not been gaming a great deal since then. I’ve been away and I’ve had a summer job.—Boy 7
3.2.2. Time for Other Activities
If you think about it by yourself in your own head it doesn’t work very well, but if you say it out loud to someone else then you understand it better, like … and then I sort of reflected on it, like, OK perhaps I shouldn’t prioritise the gaming above this—above homework. Maybe I should do my homework as soon as I get it instead of procrastinating.—Boy 2
I want to prioritise school a bit and try to make more of an effort to sort of, actually be a bit better than just passing.—Girl 7
3.3. Changes in the Parent–Child Relationship
3.3.1. Less Conflict
Well, it was really, really a lot before the treatment but now, ever since the treatment, it has happened perhaps once, twice; before the treatment it was every day. Yes, and it feels very good, we have a better home climate, the relationship in the house, it’s got much better. It was more that I, they turned off the internet and then I got annoyed and then it was that I had stayed up too late, they could see that I had stayed up all night, and so on. And when they took away my devices there was an awful lot.—Boy 4
I was to do less gaming and I would have a better relationship with my parents, listen to them more when they tell me to stop gaming, that is what I remember. It has actually got better.—Boy 5
Yes, I’ve had quite a few arguments with my Mum during the year I’ve lived with her, and most of them have been specifically about my gaming, that I don’t do anything else and that I waste my time doing it. There is less arguing about the gaming now, since I don’t game but instead, we argue about other things, so these arguments swap places with the gaming.—Boy 3
3.3.2. Spending More Time with Parents
I think it has changed in a positive way, I spend time and chat with them more than I did earlier.—Boy 3
Once I get downstairs, we look at a film or a series—I chat with my brothers, the same with my parents, I can have a chat with them without feeling that I need to go away.—Boy 5
3.3.3. Parents’ Changed Attitude to Gaming
She probably understands what I do better [referring to the change].—Boy 2
I know that my Mum has sort of looked at it in the same way, she hasn’t been massively negative, unlike my dad who was super anti earlier. But I suppose my dad has become, he has almost tried to encourage me to play games, because I haven’t been very cheerful recently, he has, like, gone, “Won’t you plug in the computer now?”.—Boy 7
4. Discussion
4.1. Adolescents’ Experiences of the RP Treatment
4.2. Effect of the RP Treatment
4.3. Changes in the Parent–Child Relationship
5. Limitations of the Study
6. Conclusions
Supplementary Materials
Author Contributions
Funding
Institutional Review Board Statement
Informed Consent Statement
Data Availability Statement
Acknowledgments
Conflicts of Interest
References
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Participants | Age, Yrs | Gender | Treatment Sessions | Gaming Habits |
---|---|---|---|---|
1 | 14 | Boy | entire treatment in person | gaming on console and computer |
2 | 17 | Boy | entire treatment in person | gaming on computer |
3 | 14 | Boy | missed 1–2 sessions in person | gaming on console (but sold it after the treatment) |
4 | 15 | Boy | entire treatment online | gaming on console and computer |
5 | 15 | Boy | entire treatment online and in person | gaming on console and computer |
6 | 13 | Boy | entire treatment in person | gaming on iPad or Nintendo Switch |
7 | 17 | Girl | entire treatment in person | gaming on computer |
8 | 13 | Girl | entire treatment in person | gaming on smartphone or compute |
9 | 14 | Boy | entire treatment in person | gaming on smartphone and laptop |
Themes | Subthemes |
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The adolescents’ experiences of the treatment |
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Effect of the treatment |
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Changes in the parent–child relationship |
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Gurdal, S.; Kapetanovic, S.; Einarsson, I.; Boson, K.; Claesdotter-Knutsson, E. Adolescents’ Perceptions of a Relapse Prevention Treatment for Problematic Gaming—A Qualitative Study. Healthcare 2023, 11, 2366. https://doi.org/10.3390/healthcare11172366
Gurdal S, Kapetanovic S, Einarsson I, Boson K, Claesdotter-Knutsson E. Adolescents’ Perceptions of a Relapse Prevention Treatment for Problematic Gaming—A Qualitative Study. Healthcare. 2023; 11(17):2366. https://doi.org/10.3390/healthcare11172366
Chicago/Turabian StyleGurdal, Sevtap, Sabina Kapetanovic, Isak Einarsson, Karin Boson, and Emma Claesdotter-Knutsson. 2023. "Adolescents’ Perceptions of a Relapse Prevention Treatment for Problematic Gaming—A Qualitative Study" Healthcare 11, no. 17: 2366. https://doi.org/10.3390/healthcare11172366