As there is a significant gap in the development of preventive interventions tailored to adolescents, this study develops and preliminarily investigates the efficacy of a preventive intervention towards Problematic Smartphone Use (PSU) by referring to the metacognitive model. Six classes, a total of 93 high school students (75 % females, Mage = 16.26, SD = 1.24), were randomly assigned to either the Training or No Training group. The intervention spanned five weekly sessions, incorporating cognitive behavioral therapy and the conceptual change model to modify metacognitive beliefs. Pre- and post-test measures included daily time spent on the mobile phone, risky behaviors related to smartphone use, and metacognitive beliefs about smartphone use. A mixed ANOVA indicated a significant reduction in daily time spent on the mobile phone and risky behaviors related to smartphone use only in the Training group, with large effect sizes. Findings are promising and discussed in terms of future improvement.

In the modern era of constant digital technological advancements, problematic smartphone use has become a key issue in educational psychology. This phenomenon affects individual psychological well-being and academic or other performance and encompasses interpersonal relationships and societal aspects, divulging the intricate correlation between technology usage and human behavior. This study aims to explore mindfulness as an intervention measure to lessen problematic smartphone use.

Based on the PRISMA method, this study used a meta-analytic approach to explore the relationship between mindfulness and problematic smartphone use systematically. Systematic literature searches for papers published before February 2024 yielded 29 studies, including 17,534 individuals and 30 effect sizes. The sample comprised participants from Eastern cultures (n = 22 studies) and Western cultures (n = 8 studies).

The meta-analysis revealed a significant negative correlation between mindfulness and problematic smartphone use (r = -0.399, 95 % CI [-0.457, -0.338], p < 0.001). Moderator analyses revealed the strongest relationship when using the Child and Adolescent Mindfulness Measure (CAMM) (r = -0.498), while the Five Facet Mindfulness Questionnaire (FFMQ) showed the weakest (r = -0.245). Cultural background analyses indicated stronger effects in Eastern cultures (r = -0.428) compared to Western cultures (r = -0.316). Gender analyses revealed stronger effects among female participants (β = -0.510, p < 0.05).

These findings demonstrate that mindfulness serves as an effective approach to addressing problematic smartphone use. The significant moderating effects identified have important implications for the implementation of mindfulness-based interventions in educational settings.

University students face mental health (MH) issues like anxiety, depression, and stress, highlighting the need for effective interventions to improve well-being and academic success.

This review examined 18 randomized controlled trials (RCTs) from 2000 to 2023, following PRISMA guidelines. A total of 2,325 students, aged 18-25 without severe MH conditions, participated in physical activity (PA) interventions like aerobic and strength training, mindfulness practices such as meditation and mind-body therapies (MBT) such as yoga and Qigong-Baduanjin, over 1 to 16 wk.

In 89% of studies, interventions led to significant reductions in anxiety, depression, and stress, with positive effects across various intervention types and durations.

The findings support PA, mindfulness and MBT as effective strategies for enhancing MH among university students, though more research with standardized methods and long-term follow-ups is recommended.

Mental health needs in the community surged during the pandemic, with concerning reports of increased negative mood symptoms among youth. At the same time, preventive psychoeducational interventions were insufficient within frontline youth mental health services in Hong Kong, and research specifically addressing youth loneliness remained limited on an international scale. Given the association between loneliness and other mental health symptoms, psychoeducational programs that empower adolescents to cope with emotions may help address both the research gap and local demand. As such, Tuned In, a previously validated intervention program originally developed in Australia, was introduced to the local context. Cultural adaptations and an added focus on loneliness were incorporated into the project to enhance its acceptability and test its effectiveness.

This study aims to evaluate an adapted version of the Tuned In music-based psychoeducation program, designed to reduce loneliness, depression, and anxiety symptoms among young people in Hong Kong by enhancing their emotion regulation skills.

Participants aged 16-19 years will be randomly assigned to either the experimental or control group. The experimental group will receive an online, group-based psychoeducation program focused on emotion recognition and management, delivered weekly over 4 consecutive weeks. The intervention is grounded in Russell's emotion circumplex model and music psychology, and program content included: The 2D model and characteristics of emotions from different quadrants (session 1); happiness and loneliness (session 2); high-arousal and negative-valence emotions, for example, stress and anxiety (sessions 3); and anxiety, perfectionism, and a celebration of achievement (session 4). Both therapist- and participant-selected music will be used in the intervention to provide a rich repertoire for group discussion, psychoeducation, reflection, and the practice of social skills. The main outcome measures will be assessed using the Emotion Regulation Questionnaire, the Difficulties in Emotion Regulation Scale, the Depression Anxiety Stress Scale, and the De Jong Gierveld Loneliness Scale. Feedback on the project arrangement will be gathered through qualitative input. A mixed methods analysis will be conducted following data collection.

The project was successfully funded in February 2023 by the Health and Medical Research Fund in Hong Kong and commenced in August 2023. As of September 16, 2024, a total of 316 completed questionnaires had been received through Qualtrics for screening purposes, with 89 participants deemed eligible for the program. The project is scheduled to conclude in August 2025, with results to be published thereafter.

Participants are expected to show improvements in emotion regulation, along with reductions in mood symptoms and loneliness, following the intervention.

ClinicalTrials.gov NCT06147297; https://clinicaltrials.gov/study/NCT06147297.

DERR1-10.2196/67764.

To evaluate the effects of different interventions on adolescent internet addiction, a meta-analysis and network meta-analysis were performed to determine the possible intervention effects of these interventions.

Computer searches of the China National Knowledge Network, Wanfang, VIP, EMBASE, PubMed, Web of Science, EBSCO, and Cochrane Library databases were performed. The relevant randomized controlled trials were designed to assess the effects of interventions on adolescent internet addiction. The retrieval period ranged from the establishment of the database to January 31, 2024. Literature screening, data extraction, and bias risk assessment were carried out independently by two researchers. CMA 3.3, Stata 17.0 software and Review Manager 5.3 were used for the data analysis.

A total of 89 studies with 6876 samples were included. A traditional meta-analysis of 51 single interventions and controlled studies revealed that sports intervention, cognitive behavior therapy, family therapy, mindfulness intervention, attention bias training and group counseling significantly improved adolescent Internet addiction [standardized mean difference (SMD) = -1.75, 95 % CI (-2.07, -1.44), p < 0.01; I2 = 94 %] compared to no-treatment groups. A network meta-analysis showed that combined intervention (Sucra = 93.5) had the highest probability of being the best intervention for adolescent Internet addiction, and acupuncture interventions showed the most promise as a single intervention modality; however, due to the limited number of studies, we believe that sports intervention could be the most appropriate single intervention.

The evidence provided by existing studies shows that compared with other single interventions, combined interventions have the greatest effect on adolescent IA, and sports may be the best single intervention. However, because of the limitations of sample size and quality of individual studies, the strength of the evidence still needs to be further verified by additional standardized and high-quality studies.

Recently, the widespread surge in smartphone addiction (SA) has raised major global health concerns and prompted researchers to scrutinize the inverse relationship between physical activity (PA) and the risk of SA. This systematic literature review aims to synthesize the empirical research on the relationship between PA and SA among university students representing the most affected age group.

Adopting the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analysis (PRISMA) guidelines, we explored five databases: PubMed, Social Sciences Research Network (SSRN), Oxford Research Archive, Journal Storage (JSTOR), and Google Scholar. We used the Mixed Methods Appraisal Tools (MMAT) for quality assessment.

Thirty-one studies met the inclusion criteria. Twenty-eight of them were cross-sectional, and three were experimental. The 31 studies emerged from 12 countries, most stemming (45.16%) from China. Their findings suggest an inverse relationship between PA and SA in the examined population. However, the direct relationship may be weak based on correlational studies, while intervention research yields noteworthy effects. Still, other factors like resilience may mediate the studied relationship. Methodological concerns render the results of correlational studies tentative.

Regular PA could be a promising preventive measure for SA. Future work should use objective PA indices in longitudinal research designs while assessing the type and duration of smartphone applications used via device meters. In correlational studies, interviews should follow up on the high SA risk or too much device use. In conclusion, moderate evidence indicates that PA can reduce SA among university students.

The growing problem of adolescent mobile phone addiction has attracted significant attention, underscoring the importance of identifying approaches to address it. Exercise has been found to reduce adolescent mobile phone addiction; however, its mechanism remains unclear. This review aims to elucidate the potential moderating factors between exercise and mobile phone addiction based on previous studies to provide a reference for adolescents to effectively participate in exercise to reduce mobile phone addiction.

Articles were searched in the CNKI, Web of Science, Scopus, Cochrane, PsycINFO, and PubMed databases according to the inclusion criteria and followed the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Assessment and Meta-analysis (PRISMA). The quality of the literature was assessed by two independent reviewers using the Cochrane Collaboration Risk of Bias tool for methodological quality assessment. Meta-analysis was performed using Stata 15.1 software for Meta-analysis, standardized mean difference (SMD) was combined using a random effects model, and subgroup analysis was used to explore heterogeneity.

A total of 12 studies, 17 samples, and 861 subjects were included in the meta-analysis, and all studies were randomized controlled trials. The findings revealed that the exercise intervention significantly reduced mobile phone addiction in adolescents (SMD = -3.11; 95% CI: -3.91, -2.30; p < 0.001). The intervention effect was moderated by multiple variables, such as the measurement tools, exercise intervention types, cycles, frequency, and duration of a single exercise intervention.

Our findings suggest that exercise could serve as an effective strategy for preventing or ameliorating mobile phone addiction in adolescents. Based on the results of this study, we encourage mobile phone-addicted adolescents to engage in a single exercise using a mix of skills for 30-60 min three or more times weekly for more than eight consecutive weeks.

Loneliness is detrimental to mental health, with university students at higher risk of feeling lonely than other population groups. However, little research has explored interventions to reduce loneliness among students. This review identifies the characteristics and effectiveness of interventions targeting university/college students.

PsycINFO, Medline, ASSIA and Web of Science were searched from inception using keywords linked to 'loneliness', 'intervention' and 'students'. Relevant peer and nonpeer-reviewed English-language articles on studies implementing an intervention with loneliness as an outcome and investigating undergraduate or postgraduate students at a higher education institution were included for quality analysis and narrative synthesis. Risk of bias was assessed at both study level and at outcome level.

Twenty-eight articles were included, comprising 25 quantitative and three qualitative studies, covering 37 interventions, most implemented in the United States. Interventions were based on psychoeducation, social support groups, increasing social interaction or reflective exercises. The age of the participants (n = 2339) ranged from 17.62 to 25 (mean age 20.63) years. Evidence from the RCTs suggests that most interventions influenced loneliness outcomes, but the magnitude of the benefit is unclear. Across quantitative studies, 80% (16/20) of interventions based on either social support groups, increasing social interaction or reflective exercises, and 50% (7/14) of interventions based on psychoeducation were deemed effective in reducing loneliness. Most interventions measured quantitatively were delivered in a group setting, of which two thirds were considered effective in reducing loneliness scores, regardless of intervention.

Universities have a choice of interventions to help reduce loneliness among students either on campus or virtually. Ones promoting social connectedness appear to be more successful. More high-quality studies in a larger number of countries are needed, taking vulnerable student groups into consideration.

The aim of this study was to investigate the association between physical activity (PA), problematic smartphone use (PSU), and burnout, as well as to identify whether there is a mediating role for PSU. We recruited 823 college students (Mage = 18.55, SD = 0.83) from Wuhan, China, in December 2022, including 499 males and 324 females. Demographic information, the International Physical Activity Questionnaire-Short Form (IPAQ-SF), the Smartphone Addiction Scale-Short Version (SAS-SV), and the Maslach Burnout Inventory-Student Survey (MBI-SS) were used for assessments. Pearson correlation analysis showed that PA was significantly associated with PSU (r = -0.151, p < 0.001), PSU was significantly associated with burnout (r = 0.421, p < 0.001), and the association between PA and burnout was not statistically significant (r = -0.046, p > 0.05). The results of the mediation model test showed that PA could not predict burnout directly; it instead predicted burnout entirely indirectly through PSU. Furthermore, PSU mediated the predictive effect of PA on exhaustion and cynicism. In conclusion, there is no direct connection between PA levels and burnout. PA indirectly affects burnout through PSU, but does not fully apply to the three different dimensions of exhaustion, cynicism, and professional efficacy.

There is some evidence that more social media use is related to poorer mental well-being and that social media use can become problematic when it starts to interfere with a person's daily life and mental well-being. To address this issue and improve users' mental well-being, social media use interventions (eg, abstinence from social media) have been developed and evaluated. However, there is limited understanding of the effectiveness of these interventions in improving mental well-being.

This systematic review aimed to synthesize the literature on the effectiveness of social media use interventions in improving mental well-being in adults.

A systematic search (January 1, 2004, to July 31, 2022) was completed across 3 databases in accordance with the PRISMA (Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses) guidelines. Experimental studies evaluating the impact of social media use interventions on mental well-being in adults were included. Outcomes related to mental well-being, such as depression, anxiety, stress, and loneliness, were included. A narrative synthesis without meta-analysis was completed to summarize the study characteristics and effectiveness by outcome and intervention type. The Effective Public Health Practice Project Quality Assessment Tool was used to measure the quality of the studies.

Of the 2785 studies identified through the systematic search, 23 (0.83%) were included in the analysis. Many of the included studies (9/23, 39%) found improvements in mental well-being, some (7/23, 30%) found mixed effects, and others (7/23, 30%) found no effect on mental well-being. Therapy-based interventions that used techniques such as cognitive behavioral therapy were more effective than limiting use of social media or full abstinence from social media, with 83% (5/6) of these studies showing improvements in mental well-being compared with 20% (1/5) and 25% (3/12), respectively. Depression was the most frequently investigated and improved outcome with 70% (7/10) of the studies showing a significant improvement in depression after the intervention, whereas other outcomes showed more varied results. Quality was poor, with 96% (22/23) of the studies receiving a weak global score, mostly for issues related to selection bias because most of the studies (16/23, 70%) used a convenience sampling of university students.

This review provides some evidence that social media use interventions are effective in improving mental well-being, especially for depression and when using therapy-based interventions. Further experimental and longitudinal research is needed with representative samples to investigate who may benefit most from social media use interventions. This will help to develop guidance and recommendations for policy makers and clinicians on how best to manage problematic social media use.

Existing research has demonstrated that depression is positively related to smartphone addiction, but the role of sleep has not been discussed thoroughly, especially among engineering undergraduates affected by the coronavirus disease 2019 pandemic.

To evaluate sleep as a mediator of the association between smartphone addiction and depression among engineering undergraduates.

Using a multistage stratified random sampling method, a cross-sectional survey was conducted among 692 engineering undergraduates from a top engineering university in China, and data were collected by self-reported electronic questionnaires. The data included demographic characteristics, such as age, gender, the Smartphone Addiction Scale-Short Version (SAS-SV), the 9-item Patient Health Questionnaire, and the Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index. Pearson correlation and multiple linear regression analyses were used to examine the association between smartphone addiction and depression, while structural equation models were established to evaluate the possible mediating role of sleep.

Based on the cutoffs of the SAS-SV, the rate of smartphone addiction was 63.58 percent, with 56.21 percent for women and 65.68 percent for men, among 692 engineering students. The prevalence of depression among students was 14.16 percent, with 17.65 percent for women, and 13.18 percent for men. Smartphone addiction was positively correlated with depression, and sleep played a significant mediating effect between the two, accounting for 42.22 percent of the total effect. In addition, sleep latency, sleep disturbances, and daytime dysfunction significantly mediated the relationship between depression and smartphone addiction. The mediating effect of sleep latency was 0.014 [P < 0.01; 95% confidence interval (CI): 0.006-0.027], the mediating effect of sleep disturbances was 0.022 (P < 0.01; 95%CI: 0.011-0.040), and the mediating effect of daytime dysfunction was 0.040 (P < 0.01; 95%CI: 0.024-0.059). The influence of sleep latency, sleep disturbances, and daytime dysfunction accounted for 18.42%, 28.95%, and 52.63% of the total mediating effect, respectively.

The results of the study suggest that reducing excessive smartphone use and improving sleep quality can help alleviate depression.

Smartphone addiction is a serious social problem that necessitates research. To identify trends in intervention programs for smartphone addiction, distribution of research topics, and inter-relationships in academic research. We analyzed 104 studies published between 30 June 2022, and 31 August 2022, on the Web of Science (WoS). We applied the bibliometric method and identified the relationship and development trends of academic research in the field using descriptive analysis, the Latent Dirichlet Allocation (LDA), co-citation analysis, bibliographic coupling, and co-occurrence. There were four findings: First, intervention programs are classified into 10 types: psychological, social support, lifestyle, technological, family, medical care, educational, exercise, mindfulness, and meditation. Second, the volume of research on intervention programs increased every year. Third, China and South Korea had the highest research involvement. Finally, academic studies were split into either the human behavior or social science categories. Most of them defined the symptoms in terms of individual behavior and social relations, implying that smartphone addiction is not yet recognized as a disorder. Smartphone addiction has not yet been internationally recognized as a disorder, despite its impact on human physiology, psychology, and social behavior. Most related studies have been conducted in Asia, specifically in China and South Korea; Spain has the most outside Asia. Additionally, most of the research subjects were students, probably because of the convenience of sampling. As smartphones gain popularity among older adults, future studies could focus on smartphone addiction among individuals of varied ages.

Objective: This pilot study aimed to explore the mechanism of the effects of Bafa Wubu of Tai Chi (BWTC) on anxiety and depression in college students using resting-state functional magnetic resonance imaging (RS-fMRI). Methods: Eighteen college students (5 males and 13 females) with anxiety and depression met the study criteria and were randomly divided into an experimental group (aged 24.20 ± 4.07 years) and a control group (aged 22.50 ± 5.95). The experimental group received an eight-week BWTC intervention five times/week for 60 min/session. The control group maintained normal daily life without any exercise intervention. These students were assessed using RS-fMRI scans, the self-rating anxiety scale (SAS), and the self-rating depression scale (SDS). Spearman correlation analysis was used, and statistical significance was defined as a two-sided p-value of <0.05. Results: After the intervention, the SAS and SDS scores of the BWTC group significantly reduced (p = 0.002; p = 0.001). Compared with the control group, the fALFF values of the right middle frontal gyrus, orbital part (Frontal_Mid_Orb_R) (p = 0.043), right inferior occipital gyrus (Occipital_Inf_R) (p = 0.003), and right middle temporal gyrus of the temporal pole (Temporal_Pole_Mid_R) (p = 0.003) in the BWTC group increased significantly; the fALFF values of the left middle frontal gyrus (Frontal_Mid_L) (p = 0.001) and right supplementary motor area (Supp_Motor_Area_R) (p = 0.010) in BWTC group decreased significantly. The fALFF values of Frontal_Mid_Orb_R were significantly positively correlated with the SDS score (r = 0.852, p = 0.015) and the fALFF values of Frontal_Mid_L were significantly negatively correlated with the SAS score (r = -0.797, p = 0.032). Conclusion: In this pilot study with college students, BWTC alleviated anxiety and depression, potentially through modulating activity in the Frontal_Mid_L and Frontal_Mid_Orb_R, respectively.

Mainland China has the most smartphone users worldwide, especially among college students, while mindfulness intervention can significantly alleviate the level of problematic smartphone use. We examined the effects of a brief mindfulness intervention on problematic smartphone use and investigated if this effect is mediated by self-control.

Participants were recruited randomly from a university in Beijing of China. Forty-four college students were assigned to a mindfulness group or a control group. The mindfulness group took part in a brief (30 min) single-session mindfulness intervention. The control group was instructed to listen to a neutral news audio recording for the same duration (30 min). The Freiburg Mindfulness Inventory, Mobile Phone Addiction Tendency Scale, and Self-control Scale were used to measure state mindfulness, problematic smartphone use, and self-control of college students at pre-intervention and post-intervention, respectively.

Two-way repeated-measures ANOVA revealed that the mindfulness group had significant improvements in state mindfulness (p = .049) and self-control (p = .012), and had significant alleviation in problematic smartphone use (p < .001) at post-intervention. In the regression model, self-control had a mediating effect between mindfulness intervention and problematic smartphone use (95% CI [0.490, 7.216]).

A brief single-session mindfulness intervention can alleviate the level of problematic smartphone use and increase the level of state mindfulness and self-control compared to the control group. Self-control can completely mediate the efficacy of the mindfulness intervention in reducing problematic smartphone use.

Among the large number of studies on smartphone addiction, only a few randomized controlled trials on exercise and psychological interventions for smartphone addiction by university students have been published. This study aims to systematically investigate the impact of exercise and psychological interventions on smartphone addiction among university students.

The PRISMA guidelines were adopted for this systematic literature review. Prominent academic databases such as Web of Science, PubMed, ProQuest, Cochrane Library, China National Knowledge Infrastructure (CNKI) and PsycINFO were searched to find eligible studies published before Aug 2021. The overall quality of the articles was checked using the "QualSyst" tool by Kmet et al.

From among 600 papers, 23 met the inclusion criteria and were incorporated into our systematic review. All of the studies were randomized controlled trials. The following thematic areas emerged as a result of the content analysis: study selection and design, as well as study characteristics (participants, intervention, comparisons, and outcomes).

The literature on exercise and psychological interventions for smartphone addiction is scarce. There is a need to introduce new interventions and to validate the effectiveness of combined interventions. Our findings suggest that exercise and psychological interventions may help to reduce smartphone addiction. This combination was more effective compare to exercise or psychological intervention on mental health and addiction among university students. Future research should combine exercise and psychological interventions, focusing on university students, especially females, who are vulnerable to smartphone addiction. Further studies should focus on the cross-section of neuropsychology, cognitive psychology, and sports science to provide combined interventions in physiological and psychological direction.

https://www.crd.york.ac.uk/prospero, identifier: CRD42021278037.

Problematic smartphone use (PSU) has been increasing hastily in recent decades, and it has become inseparable during the COVID-19 pandemic, especially among the students who are at risk of problematic smartphone use. Therefore, the present study aimed to investigate the prevalence and associated factors of PSU during the COVID-19 pandemic among the Bangladeshi students.

A total of 601 Bangladeshi students were recruited through an online-based cross-sectional survey that was conducted between October 7 and November 2, 2020. The survey collected information related to socio-demographics, behavioral health, internet use behaviors, depression, anxiety, and PSU. Independent samples t-test and one-way ANOVA were performed to present the relationship between the studied variables and PSU. Multiple linear regression analysis was also used for investigating the explanatory power of the predictive models for PSU.

Surprisingly, about 86.9% of the students scored to be problematic smartphone users (≥21 out of a total 36 based on the Smartphone Application-Based Addiction Scale). In addition, medical students, engaging in a relationship, performing less physical activity, longer duration of internet use, some sorts of internet use purpose (eg, messaging, watching videos, using social media), depression, and anxiety were significantly associated with higher scores of PSU. After adjusting all the studied variables, the final model explained a 31.3% variance predicting PSU.

The present study is one of the first approaches to assess the prevalence of PSU among the Bangladeshi students during the COVID-19 pandemic, whereas the addiction level was superfluous (and this may be due to more online engagement related to the pandemic). Thus, the study recommended strategies or policies related to the students' risk-reducing and healthy use of smartphones.