Internet Gaming Disorder among Secondary School Students in Panchthar, Nepal: A Cross-Sectional Study

Abstract

Introduction: Internet addiction is characterized by excessive or impaired control over internet gaming leading to impairment or distress among the users. In the present context, internet gaming has been massively gaining popularity among youngsters. The World Health Organization (WHO) has also included “gaming disorder” in the 11th revision of the International Classification of Diseases as a mental health disorder. Thus, the main aim of this study was to assess internet gaming disorder in secondary level students of Phidim municipality, Panchthar, Nepal.

Methods: We conducted a descriptive cross-sectional study among 216 secondary level students Schools in Panchthar. A simple random sampling method was used for the selection of schools and systematic sampling was opted for the selection of students. Ethical approval was taken from the Institutional Review Board (IRC) and written consent was taken from participants and their guardians. Internet Gaming Disorder Scale-short-form was used as a tool for determining Internet Gaming Disorder (IGD) which was self-administered among participants. All the raw data was managed in Microsoft-excel and analyzed using SPSS version 20.

Results: We found out that a total of 5.4% of participants who played online games were disordered gamers.

Conclusions: The rate of internet gaming disorder is quite low compared to other countries. However, immediate attention is needed to avoid possible future consequences of reliance on online gaming.