Health Care Providers and Internet Gaming Disorder: Attitudes, Knowledge, and Clinical Readiness

Objective: Internet gaming disorder (IGD) has gained increasing global recognition, yet little is known about how health care providers perceive and manage this condition in clinical practice. The objective of this study was to assess health care providers' IGD-related beliefs, familiarity with diagnostic criteria, confidence in diagnosis and management, and perceived training needs.

Methods:A cross-sectional online survey of internal medicine and psychiatry health care providers was conducted between September and October 2025 at a large academic medical center, assessing IGD-related beliefs, familiarity with diagnostic criteria, confidence in diagnosis and management, and perceived training needs.

Results: Among 67 respondents, most participants endorsed IGD as a clinically significant condition (84%) that contributes to psychiatric comorbidities (87%). However, fewer than half of providers reported confidence diagnosing (44%) or managing IGD (29%), and only 37% were familiar with currently proposed Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders criteria. Psychiatric health care providers reported greater confidence and familiarity with IGD than their internal medicine counterparts, particularly in diagnosis, management, and identification of diagnostic criteria during clinical encounters. Overall, 81% of participants indicated that they would benefit from additional IGD-related education.

Conclusion: Despite broad recognition of IGD's clinical significance, substantial gaps remain in provider confidence and familiarity with diagnostic and management approaches, particularly outside of psychiatry. These findings identify actionable gaps in provider preparedness and highlight the need for targeted educational efforts to support effective clinical management of IGD across medical specialties.

Prim Care Companion CNS Disord 2026;28(4):26m04192.

Author affiliations are listed at the end of this article.