The effectiveness of family-based therapies in adolescents and young adults with problematic gaming: A systematic review exploring family involvement and cultural influences

Internet gaming has become widely popular in modern day, with research positing social, cognitive and emotional benefits from playing video games (Granic et al., 2014; Griffiths, 2018). However, when gaming becomes excessive and problematic for individuals, there can be detrimental effects on one’s social and occupational functioning as well as emotional wellbeing (Männikkö et al., 2020). The International Classification of Diseases (ICD-11) has recently classified problematic gaming as a Gaming Disorder (GD) (World Health Organisation, 2019), implicating the need for specific interventions to address gaming symptomology and underlying factors. The current systematic review thereby looks to explore the effectiveness of family-based therapies in reducing symptoms of problematic gaming among adolescents and young adults. We will also look to explore whether family involvement and cultural factors may influence treatment outcomes and delivery. We mainly wanted to find out how effective are family-based therapies towards reducing symptoms of problematic gaming in adolescents and young adults, as well as how does the level of family involvement affect treatment outcomes, and to what extent do studies report cultural factors that may impact treatment?