Abstract

The Acceptance and Cognitive Restructuring Intervention Program (ACRIP) has been proven efficacious in existing studies to reduce the symptoms of Internet Gaming Disorder (IGD) and improve the psychological well-being of adolescents. IGD has recently been recognized as a mental health condition by the World Health Organization as it becomes an emerging issue of significant public health concern. Empirical evidences associating IGD with poor psychological well-being are increasing. This study recommends that telemedicine adopt the ACRIP in addressing the symptoms of IGD. The ACRIP was developed and tested efficacious through the use of sequential exploratory research design and randomized controlled trial. Internet Gaming Disorder (IGDS9-SF) and Ryff’s Psychological well-being (PWB) scales were used to measure the severity of the gaming disorder and state of psychological health of the experimental and control groups. Statistical analysis using MANOVA on post-test mean scores on IGD and PWB of the experimental group showed a significant difference which suggested that the ACRIP is efficacious in reducing the symptoms of IGD and improving the psychological well-being of selected adolescents included in the studies and is culture-free. Cohens d test showed the large effect of the ACRIP

Keywords: Acceptance; Cognitive restructuring; Internet gaming disorder; Psychological well-being; Telemedicine