PhD Degree Awarded to Mr. Hamoud Al-Dhabiani in Educational Psychology

Mr. Hamoud Ayda Saleh Al-Dhabiani was awarded a PhD degree in Educational Psychology for his dissertation titled: The Effectiveness of a Cognitive-Behavioral Program in Reducing Internet Addiction and Enhancing Academic Achievement Motivation among Students at Thamar University, which was submitted to the Department of Educational Psychology, Faculty of Education – Sana’a University. The dissertation defense was held on Tuesday, September 16, 2025.

The PhD Viva-Voce Committee, which was formed based on a resolution issued by the Graduate Studies and Scientific Research Council, consisted of the following:

#	Committee Members	Designation	University	Position
1	Prof. Mohammed Abdullah Al-Soofi	Internal Examiner	Sana’a University	Chair
2	Assoc. Prof. Amat Al-Razzaq Mohammed Ahmed Al-Weshali	Main Supervisor	Sana’a University	Member
3	Prof. Ahmed Ali Al-Ameeri	External Examiner	Taiz University	Member

The study primarily aimed to design a cognitive-behavioral program and assess its effectiveness in reducing internet addiction and enhancing achievement motivation among a sample of students from Thamar University.

The study yielded several key findings, including:

The rate of internet addiction among the study sample was 25.8%.
The level of academic achievement motivation among students was moderate.
Statistically significant differences at the 0.05 level were found between the experimental and control groups in the post-test scores of the Internet Addiction Scale, in favor of the experimental group, attributable to the effectiveness of the program.

The researcher concluded his dissertation with several key recommendations, including:

Implementing therapeutic counseling programs for students addicted to the internet to help them overcome internet addiction, reintegrate into real-life social relationships, and strengthen psychological and social adjustment.
Organizing counseling programs for parents and teachers to raise their awareness of appropriate educational approaches for children. These programs would train them on how to monitor their children’s internet use without making them feel observed, and how to prevent them from becoming captive to the virtual world. The programs would also help address students’ psychological, social, familial, and academic problems in ways that promote their overall adjustment.

The dissertation defense was attended by a number of academics, researchers, specialists, students, colleagues, and the researcher’s family.