Effects of Logotherapy-Based Mindfulness Intervention on Internet Addiction among Adolescents during the COVID-19 Pandemic.

Background: The global outbreak of the novel coronavirus pneumonia (COVID-19) has seriously affected people's work and lives. Disaster-related traumatic stress events increase the risk of substance abuse. Therefore, the COVID-19 outbreak, as a stress event, inevitably has a negative impact on Chinese adolescents with Internet addiction.

Methods: In 2020, 1787 copies of the questionnaire were randomly distributed among adolescents aged 12-16 years in three communities in Shandong Province, China. Among the respondents, 121 Internet addicts voluntarily participated and were divided into the experiment group (60 members) and the control group (61 members). Logotherapy-based mindfulness intervention was carried out on the experiment group. The effects of the intervention were analyzed after eight weeks of intervention.

Results: After the intervention, significant decreases occurred in the scores of Internet addiction and its five dimensions in the experiment group ( P < 0.05), thereby implying better invention effects in the experiment group than the control group. The experiment group exhibited an increase in the positive coping score and a decrease in the negative coping score ( P < 0.05). Significant decreases were found in the anxiety and depression scores in the experiment group ( P < 0.05).

Conclusion: Logotherapy-based mindfulness intervention can significantly reduce the degree of Internet addiction among adolescents during the COVID-19 period, improve their positive emotions, reduce their negative emotions, and alleviate the degree of anxiety and depression in adolescents.