Training for Parents of Adolescents with Gaming Disorder: A Pilot Study

Aim: Parents can influence the Internet use (IUD) or gaming disorder (GD) in their children in various ways. However, there is scant published research and limited structured guidelines on the subject. This article describes a group training for parents that does not require the participation of the affected individuals. Methods: In this non-controlled pilot study, 42 parents (31 families) participated, completing diagnostic questionnaires before and after group training (adolescent’s GD Symptomatology, adolescent’s internalizing and externalizing problems, the parent’s and adolescent’s quality of life). The training included six sessions and was divided into four main topics (psychoeducation, parent-child-communication, analysing and changing, own limits and needs). Results: The training was well-received by the participants. The training itself and most of the content were rated as helpful. From the parents’ point of view, there were significant improvements in the GD symptomatology, the adolescent’s internalizing and externalizing problems, and adolescent’s quality of life. The parents’ quality of life was already at an average high level at the beginning of the training and hardly changed. Conclusions: The training program is easy to implement and is considered beneficial. There are indications that positive changes are triggered by the training, even though the affected persons themselves are not involved. A randomized controlled efficacy study is still pending.