Abstract:
Computer game addiction has a tendency to increase in school-age children (6-
12 years). The promotion of family strength is an effective way for prevention. This
quasi-experimental research of a pre-post test design included two groups, and aimed
to study the effect of the Family Developmental Task Program for the prevention of
computer game addiction in school-age children. Duvall’s family developmental task
theory and Participatory Learning were applied in order to formulate a conceptual
framework. Eighty pairs of parents and children in grade 6 were clustered randomly
into experimental and comparison groups, 40 pairs in each. The experimental group
received the program 2 times, which included 4 activities for participatory learning.
The contents related to problems, risks, severity, consequence of game addiction in
school-age children, and strategies to promote the family developmental task for
school-age children in accordance with the responsibility as a family member, roles
and functions of children, promotion of emotional maturity, and money management.
A booster session was performed by sending newsletters to parents twice after the end
of the program. Self-administered questionnaires about knowledge, attitudes, and
practice of family developmental tasks for prevention of computer game addiction
were used for data collection before and after intervention. Data analysis was
performed by t-test.
The results revealed that, the parents in the experimental group had a
significantly higher mean score regarding knowledge, attitudes, and practice of family
developmental tasks than before the program, and significantly higher than those in
the comparison group. The children in the experimental group received significantly
higher parental supervision than before the program, and significantly higher than
those in the comparison group (p-value < 0.05).
The family developmental task program for the prevention of computer game
addiction in school-age children can improve parents knowledge, attitudes, and
practices, as well as parental supervision. Accordingly, this program could be applied
to strengthen the parents’ capacity and promote family relations for preventing
school-age children from being addicted to computer games.