Evidence map›Paper›PMID 33905350›Full record

Trial reportJournal of behavioral addictions2021

Multidimensional family therapy reduces problematic gaming in adolescents: A randomised controlled trial.

Philip Nielsen, Maxwell Christensen, Craig Henderson, Howard A Liddle, Marina Croquette-Krokar, Nicolas Favez, Henk Rigter

Registry-linked trialOpen access · goldAbstract readRandomized Controlled Trial
PubMed Full text at PMC Publisher
In one paragraph

Trial report in Journal of behavioral addictions, 2021. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. It is linked to trial NCT05917977 (A Randomized Controlled Study of Collective Motivational Interviewing), which is not on this map. Cited by 29 papers, 3 of them syntheses that pooled it.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
29citing papers in PubMed, 3 pooled it
15.1field-weighted citation impact, top 1% of its field
1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.

The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.

2 · The registry

The trial behind it

Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.

NCT05917977 naactive not recruitingnot on this mapstarted 2023, after this paper: background citation

A Randomized Controlled Study of Collective Motivational Interviewing (CMI) for Adolescents With Internet Gaming Disorder

TypeinterventionalSponsorHong Kong College of TechnologyRan2023 to 2026Enrolled172ConditionsInternet Gaming DisorderArmsCollective Motivational Interviewing plus Education Materials, Control group (Education Materials)
3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

29 citing papers in PubMed, 3 syntheses or guidelines pooled it, 55 citations in OpenAlex.

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  11. Treatment of Gaming Disorder in Children and Adolescents: A Systematic Review.Journal of the Korean Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry · 2025
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  13. Effectiveness of Therapeutic Interventions in the Treatment of Internet Gaming Disorder: A Systematic Review.European journal of investigation in health, psychology and education · 2025
    Review
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4 · The record

Corrections and comments

PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

7 authors at 4 institutions in 3 countries.

Philip Nielsen1Fondation Phénix, Geneva, Switzerland.ORCID 0000-0001-9227-222X
Maxwell Christensen3Department of Psychology and Philosophy, Sam Houston State University, Huntsville, TX, USA.
Craig Henderson3Department of Psychology and Philosophy, Sam Houston State University, Huntsville, TX, USA.
Howard A Liddle4Departments of Public Health Sciences and Psychology, University of Miami Miller School of Medicine, Miami, USA.
Marina Croquette-Krokar1Fondation Phénix, Geneva, Switzerland.
Nicolas Favez2Unité de psychologie clinique des relations interpersonnelles, FPSE, University of Geneva, Geneva, Switzerland.
Henk Rigter5Department of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, Leiden University Medical Centre (LUMC), Leiden, the Netherlands.
Sam Houston State University · USUniversity of Geneva · CHLeiden University Medical Center · NLUniversity of Miami · US

Funding

No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.

6 · The paper itself

Abstract

BACKGROUND AND

aimsSocial variables including parental and family factors may serve as risk factors for Internet Gaming Disorder (IGD) in adolescents. An IGD treatment programme should address these factors. We assessed two family therapies - multidimensional family therapy (MDFT) and family therapy as usual (FTAU) - on their impact on the prevalence of IGD and IGD symptoms.

methodsEligible for this randomised controlled trial comparing MDFT (N = 12) with FTAU (N = 30) were adolescents of 12-19 years old meeting at least 5 of the 9 DSM-5 IGD criteria and with at least one parent willing to participate in the study. The youths were recruited from the Centre Phénix-Mail, which offers outpatient adolescent addiction care in Geneva. Assessments occurred at baseline and 6 and 12 months.

resultsBoth family therapies decreased the prevalence of IGD across the one-year period. Both therapies also lowered the number of IGD criteria met, with MDFT outperforming FTAU. There was no effect on the amount of time spent on gaming. At baseline, parents judged their child's gaming problems to be important whereas the adolescents thought these problems were minimal. This discrepancy in judgment diminished across the study period as parents became milder in rating problem severity. MDFT better retained families in treatment than FTAU. DISCUSSION AND

conclusionsFamily therapy, especially MDFT, was effective in treating adolescent IGD. Improvements in family relationships may contribute to the treatment success. Our findings are promising but need to be replicated in larger study. TRIAL REGISTRATION NUMBER: ISRCTN 11142726.

Indexed as

Behavior, AddictiveVideo GamesAdolescentAdultChildFamily TherapyHumansInternetParentsYoung Adultadolescentinternet gaming disordermultidimensional family therapyrandomised controlled trial

Identifiers

PMID33905350
PMCPMC8996793
OpenAlexW3158225721

What OpenQuestion holds

Textmetadata
LicenceCC BY-NC
Read underepoch 390

Registered trials

Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.