Tertiary Prevention of Computer Gaming Addiction in Students of General Education Institutions

Objective: Since the mid-nineties of the last century, there has been a wide involvement of all segments of the world’s population in computer games. A huge number of the younger generation including children, schoolchildren, teenagers is involved in the process of “computerization”. With prolonged and frequent use of a computer, it is possible to form a computer gaming addiction. The purpose was to study of the effectiveness of tertiary prevention (TP) of computer game addiction (CGA) in students of General education institutions (GEI). Patients and methods: the study included 558 students in grades 7–10 of GEI aged 12–17 years (14.6 ± 2.4 years). The main group made up 393 students who received preventive intervention, and 165 persons of the control group didn’t it. Results: as a result of the TP in the main group, there was a decrease in the interval of time spent by students at the computer (p<0.05); the number of students decreased (p<0.05): groups with the stage of CGA; with depressive states and states close to depression and anxiety; the quality of communication improved (p<0.05). The number of schoolchildren with communication skills with peers has increased (p<0.05). The control group revealed: an increase in the time interval spent by students at the computer (p<0.05); an increase in the number of students experiencing affective disorders when abstaining from the computer (p<0.05). There was a tendency to increase the frequency of problems as well as postponed meetings and personal matters related to spending time at the computer. Conclusion: tertiary prevention of CGA, including psychotherapy and pharmacotherapy, allowed a significant part (p<0.05) of students to form remission with the deactualization of pathological attraction to computer games (PACG), to control the time spent. © 2022