The Efficacy of Emotional Working Memory Training on Impulsivity, Cognitive Emotion Regulation Strategies, and Executive Function in Individuals with Internet Addiction
assessment the efficacy of emotional working memory training in impulsivity, cognitive emotion regulation strategies and executive function of people with Internet addiction.
Design
The clinical trial has two experimental and control groups, with random assignment and a blind head. The number of participants in the project was 40 and with a drop of 4 people, finally 36 participants remained in the project. Emotional working memory training program was performed on the experimental group but the control group did not receive any intervention.
Settings and conduct
Due to the conditions related to the prevalence of Covid-19 virus, all steps were performed in absentia and using AnyDesk (Remote Desktop Software) software. First, all participants in the pre-test stage were initially evaluated, then the experimental group received the intervention and finally the final evaluation in the post-test stage was taken from two groups.
Participants/Inclusion and exclusion criteria
- All participants aged 17 to 23 who have been addicted to the Internet for more than two years.
- Participants do not have sensory or motor disabilities.
- The time of using the Internet during the day for non-working and non-educational purposes is more than 8 hours.
- Participants have informed consent to participate in the treatment.
- Participants receive other therapeutic interventions such as medication or psychological therapies while participating in the study.
- Participants do not attend training sessions regularly.
Intervention groups
Emotional working memory training program was performed on the experimental group for 20 sessions but no intervention was performed on the control group.
Main outcome variables
Internet addiction, cognitive emotion regulation strategies, executive functions
General information
Reason for update
Acronym
eWMT
IRCT registration information
IRCT registration number:IRCT20210828052309N1
Registration date:2021-12-31, 1400/10/10
Registration timing:retrospective
Last update:2021-12-31, 1400/10/10
Update count:0
Registration date
2021-12-31, 1400/10/10
Registrant information
Name
Fatemeh Shahrajabian
Name of organization / entity
Kharazmi University
Country
Iran (Islamic Republic of)
Phone
+98 31 4575 3054
Email address
f.shahragabian341375@gmail.com
Recruitment status
Recruitment complete
Funding source
Expected recruitment start date
2020-10-21, 1399/07/30
Expected recruitment end date
2021-08-22, 1400/05/31
Actual recruitment start date
2020-10-21, 1399/07/30
Actual recruitment end date
2021-04-18, 1400/01/29
Trial completion date
2021-08-22, 1400/05/31
Scientific title
The Efficacy of Emotional Working Memory Training on Impulsivity, Cognitive Emotion Regulation Strategies, and Executive Function in Individuals with Internet Addiction
Public title
The Efficacy of Emotional Working Memory Training on Impulsivity, Cognitive Emotion Regulation Strategies, and Executive Function in Individuals with Internet Addiction
Purpose
Treatment
Inclusion/Exclusion criteria
Inclusion criteria:
All participants aged 17 to 23 who have been addicted to the Internet for more than two years
Participants do not have sensory or motor disabilities.
The time of using the Internet during the day for non-working and non-educational purposes is more than 8 hours.
Participants have informed consent to participate in the treatment
Exclusion criteria:
Participants receive other therapeutic interventions such as medication or psychological therapies while participating in the study.
Participants do not attend training sessions regularly
Age
From 17 years old to 23 years old
Gender
Both
Phase
N/A
Groups that have been masked
Participant
Sample size
Target sample size:
40
Actual sample size reached:
36
Randomization (investigator's opinion)
Randomized
Randomization description
As soon as each participant enters the project, they will be assigned a code. In order to be divided into two experimental and control groups, all the codes are written on sheets and from them, at first, 20 people will be randomly selected from the voting container for the experimental group and the rest for the control group.
Blinding (investigator's opinion)
Single blinded
Blinding description
In assigning to two experimental and control groups, participants are not aware of the existence of two groups. The only explanation given to the control group is that due to a series of defects in the reward process and the deletion of the test results in the first stage (pre-test), treatment begins with a delay. Finally, after taking the post-test and following up and extracting the results, the treatment process is performed for the control group.
Placebo
Used
Assignment
Parallel
Other design features
Secondary Ids
empty
Ethics committees
1
Ethics committee
Name of ethics committee
Kharazmi University Ethics Committee, headquarters of the Ministry of Health and Medical Education
Street address
Kharazmi University, Shahid Beheshti Boulevard, Hesarak, Karaj, Alborz Province
City
Karaj
Province
Alborz
Postal code
3197937551
Approval date
2021-06-14, 1400/03/24
Ethics committee reference number
IR.KHU.REC.1400.003
Health conditions studied
1
Description of health condition studied
individuals with internet addiction
ICD-10 code
ICD-10 code description
Primary outcomes
1
Description
Percentage of people who score more than 60 on the Young Internet Addiction Questionnaire.
Timepoint
Measuring Internet addiction before performing emotional working memory training and after completing twenty sessions.
Method of measurement
Young Internet Addiction Questionnaire, a semi-structured Internet addiction interview
2
Description
The score that the participants obtains in the Garnefski Cognitive Emotion Regulation Questionnaire.
Timepoint
Measuring Cognitive Emotion Regulation before performing emotional working memory training and after completing twenty sessions.
Method of measurement
Garnefski Cognitive Emotion Regulation Questionnaire - Short Form
3
Description
Inhibition
Timepoint
Measuring Inhibition before performing emotional working memory training and after completing twenty sessions.
Method of measurement
Go/No-go task
4
Description
attention
Timepoint
Measuring attention before performing emotional working memory training and after completing twenty sessions.
Method of measurement
Continuous Performance Test
5
Description
Working Memory
Timepoint
Measuring Working Memory before performing emotional working memory training and after completing twenty sessions.
Method of measurement
Wechsler Working Memory Scale
Secondary outcomes
empty
Intervention groups
1
Description
Intervention group: Participants in the intervention group received 20 sessions of 30 to 45 minutes of emotional working memory training. In the present study, we aimed to treat the cognitive and emotional deficits associated with Internet addiction using the eWMT protocol developed by Schweizer et al. (2013; 2011). The basic goal of this treatment is to strengthen the cognitive and emotional functions of the brain (functions related to the prefrontal lobe; Krause-Utz et al., 2014). It is a dual emotional working memory training program that focuses on improving attention, inhibition, emotional regulation, and working memory. In addition to cognitive training, participants also receive emotional training (using visual and auditory stimuli). Participants indicate whether a face they are currently seeing is in the same spatial location as one presented previously and/or whether a word they hear is the same as the one heard previously. For optimal task performance, the affective content of the faces must be ignored, while the participant focuses on the content of the words. Continuous eWMT training (20 - 40 minute sessions) has resulted in significant progress for improving short-term memory performance in encrypting, storing, manipulating, and retrieving emotional information Meetings were held every other day.
Category
Rehabilitation
2
Description
Placebo group. In the placebo group, participants viewed two panels with geometrical shapes on a computer screen. The top panel presented three target shapes, which the participants had to identify with a mouse click in the bottom of the panel. These panels included 5-13 distractor shapes in addition to the targets. The number of distractors included with the targets was random
Kharazmi University, Beheshti Blvd, Hesarak, Karaj, Alborz Province
City
Karaj
Province
Alborz
Postal code
3197937551
Phone
+98 26 3457 9600
Email
jamshid@khu.ac.ir
Grant name
Grant code / Reference number
Is the source of funding the same sponsor organization/entity?
Yes
Title of funding source
Kharazmi University
Proportion provided by this source
1
Public or private sector
Public
Domestic or foreign origin
Domestic
Category of foreign source of funding
empty
Country of origin
Type of organization providing the funding
Academic
Person responsible for general inquiries
Contact
Name of organization / entity
Kharazmi University
Full name of responsible person
Fatemeh Shahrajabian
Position
Masters student
Latest degree
Bachelor
Other areas of specialty/work
Psychology
Street address
Kharazmi University, Beheshti Blvd, Hesarak, Karaj, Alborz Province
City
Karaj
Province
Alborz
Postal code
3197937551
Phone
+98 31 4575 3057
Email
f.shahragabian341375@gmail.com
Person responsible for scientific inquiries
Contact
Name of organization / entity
Kharazmi University
Full name of responsible person
Fatemeh Shahrajabian
Position
Masters student
Latest degree
Bachelor
Other areas of specialty/work
Psychology
Street address
Kharazmi University, Beheshti Blvd, Hesarak, Karaj, Alborz Province
City
Karaj
Province
Alborz
Postal code
3197937551
Phone
+98 31 4575 3057
Email
f.shahragabian341375@gmail.com
Person responsible for updating data
Contact
Name of organization / entity
Kharazmi University
Full name of responsible person
Fatemeh Shahrajabian
Position
Masters student
Latest degree
Bachelor
Other areas of specialty/work
Psychology
Street address
Kharazmi University, Beheshti Blvd, Hesarak, Karaj, Alborz Province
City
Karaj
Province
Alborz
Postal code
3197937551
Phone
+98 31 4575 3057
Email
f.shahragabian341375@gmail.com
Sharing plan
Deidentified Individual Participant Data Set (IPD)
Yes - There is a plan to make this available
Study Protocol
Yes - There is a plan to make this available
Statistical Analysis Plan
Yes - There is a plan to make this available
Informed Consent Form
Yes - There is a plan to make this available
Clinical Study Report
Yes - There is a plan to make this available
Analytic Code
Undecided - It is not yet known if there will be a plan to make this available
Data Dictionary
Undecided - It is not yet known if there will be a plan to make this available
Title and more details about the data/document
Due to the fact that personal details such as surnames are not received from the participants and only at the beginning of the treatment period, separate codes are assigned to each participant, so the results can be collected in the form of programs such as Excel or SPSS has the ability to share.
When the data will become available and for how long
Two years after the results were published
To whom data/document is available
Only researchers working in scientific and academic institutions
Under which criteria data/document could be used
The data are presented under conditions from which no research article has been extracted and any use of it is with the permission of the main researcher.
From where data/document is obtainable
Contact the following email:
f.shahragabian341375@gmail.com
What processes are involved for a request to access data/document
Send an email explaining the reason for the data request to the announced email address. If approved, the request will be sent within a week.