Interventions to digital addiction: An umbrella review of meta-analyses (Preprint)

BACKGROUND Numerous studies have explored interventions to reduce digital addiction outcomes, but inconclusive evidence makes it difficult for decision-makers, managers, and clinicians to get familiar with all available literature and find appropriate interventions. OBJECTIVE o summarize and assess the certainty of evidence of interventions proposed to decrease the digital addiction from published systematic reviews. METHODS An umbrella review of published systematic reviews was undertaken. Included studies were systematic reviews and meta-analyses of quantitative primary studies assessing an intervention that aimed to reduce digital addiction. RESULTS 5 studies assessing 21 associations were included in the umbrella review, of which 4 (80%) were high-quality systematic reviews. Weak evidence was observed in 19 associations, whereas null associations appeared in the rest 2 associations. These associations pertained to nine interventions (group counseling, intergrated internet addiction prevention program, psychosocial intervention, reality therapy, self-control training program, cognitive behavior therapy (CBT), interventions to reduce screen time in child and exercise) and ten outcomes (self-control, self-esteem, IGD symptoms, time spent gaming, IA scores, screen use time, interpersonal sensitivity longlines, anxiety and depression). CBT could reduce anxiety (0.939, 95% CI, 0.311 to 1.586), IGD symptoms (1.394, 95% CI, 0.664 to 2.214) and time spent gaming 1.259, 95% CI, 0.311 to 2.206) and IA scores (-2.097, 95% CI, -2.814 to -1.381). Group counseling had a large effect size on improving self-control (1.296, 95% CI, 0.269 to 2.322) and reduced internet addiction levels (-1.147, 95% CI, -1.836 to -0.997). Exercise intervention reduced IA scores (-2.322, 95% CI, -3.212 to -1.431) and depression (-1.421, 95% CI, -2.046 to -797) and interpersonal sensitivity (-1.433, 95% CI, -2.239 to -0.627). CONCLUSIONS The evidence indicates that current interventions to reduce digital addiction are weak. Data from more and better-designed studies with larger sample sizes are needed to establish robust evidence. CLINICALTRIAL The Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses (PRISMA) 2020 statement [14]. Our study protocol has been registered with PROSPERO.