Community-Based Intervention to Reduce Problematic Video Game Use in First-Year Secondary School Students: A Cluster Randomised Controlled Trial

This cluster randomised controlled trial will evaluate whether a community-based, multicomponent intervention can reduce problematic video game use and gaming disorder among first-year secondary school students in Pontevedra, Spain. The intervention combines three coordinated components: a participatory community programme in which adolescents identify local leisure resources and co-design healthy screen-free activities; a classroom-based mindfulness programme for adolescents; and an online mindfulness programme for parents, caregivers, teachers, healthcare professionals, and other adults in the adolescents' environment. Schools will be randomly assigned to either the intervention group or a control group that continues with usual educational practice. Adolescents will be assessed before the intervention, after the intervention, and at 6-month follow-up. Adults will be assessed before and after the intervention. The main hypothesis is that adolescents in intervention schools will show a greater reduction in problematic video game use and gaming disorder than adolescents in control schools. The study will also examine whether the intervention improves mindfulness, psychological well-being, perceived social support, and self-regulation, and reduces impulsivity and involvement in cyberbullying. In addition, it will explore whether changes in mindfulness and other psychological factors help explain the intervention's effects, and whether family involvement, adult mindfulness, cyberbullying, and baseline severity influence the results.

Educational centres will be eligible if they are publicly funded, located in the province of Pontevedra, provide compulsory secondary education, and agree to participate in the study and allow implementation of the programme. Centres will be excluded if they are simultaneously participating in another structured programme specifically addressing problematic video game use or gaming disorder, mindfulness, or screen use, or if they cannot guarantee the minimum conditions required for implementation. Adolescents will be eligible if they are enrolled in the first year of compulsory secondary education at a participating centre, provide signed informed consent, have sufficient proficiency in the language used for the intervention and questionnaires, and are able to complete the study assessments. Adolescents will be excluded if they have difficulties that prevent participation in the sessions or completion of the questionnaires and these difficulties cannot be managed with reasonable support, if signed informed consent is not provided, or if consent is withdrawn at any time. Adults will be eligible if they are a parent, legal guardian, or caregiver of a participating adolescent and/or an adult involved in the school-based coordinating group, agree to participate and provide signed informed consent, and have access to an internet-connected electronic device to complete the online mindfulness programme and questionnaires. Adults will be excluded if they withdraw consent or do not have access to a suitable internet-connected device.