Game Therapy as an Intervention for Computer Game Addiction and Loneliness among Primary School Students

The study aims to examine the effect of game therapy on computer game addiction and loneliness in children attending a primary school in Kocaeli. The study was carried out in a pre-test–post-test quasi-experimental design. Data were collected with a sociodemographic data form, loneliness scale for children, and children’s computer game addiction scales. The intervention group (n = 22) and the control group (n = 23) were determined after the pretest data. The intervention group received game therapy for 6 sessions. Descriptive statistics, Kolmogorov-Smirnov, and Wilcoxon tests were applied in the analyses. The findings were calculated at a 95% confidence interval and a .05 significance level. As a result, it was revealed that children’s computer game addiction (p = .006) and loneliness levels (p = .041) decreased statistically significantly after game therapy. It can be said that implementing more game therapy interventions, especially for primary school children, will have a positive effect on children’s computer game addiction and loneliness levels.

Cite this article as: Özdemir, T., Uysal Yalçın, S., & Yüksel, A. (2025). Game therapy as an intervention for computer game addiction and loneliness among primary school students. Addicta: The Turkish Journal on Addictions, 12(2), 228-235.