Brief Tech-Parenting for Regulatory Screen Use in Young Children: A Pilot Study
Boston Children's Hospital
Summary
This study is testing a brief, virtual therapy for caregivers of preschool children. The goal is to reduce use of screen time to regulate young children's emotions and boredom, i.e. "regulatory screen use" (RSU). We expect that RSU negatively impacts young children's ability to cope with emotions and boredom. Thus, reducing RSU should improve children's self-regulation. The intervention will include three, 60-minute group sessions with caregivers, and remote data collection at three time points (pre-intervention, post-intervention, and 1-month follow-up).
Description
Project Aims / Hypotheses. This intervention study aims to refine and test a brief, caregiver delivered therapeutic program targeting the problematic use of screen time to regulate young children's emotions and boredom, i.e. "regulatory screen use" (RSU). RSU is a candidate mechanism for the negative impacts of screen time on children's mental health; therefore, this proposal addresses the growing public health concern related to pervasive digital media use. Our group has already developed an effective brief tech-parenting program for school-age children; the current study will expand this int…
Eligibility
- Age range
- 2–4 years
- Sex
- All
- Healthy volunteers
- Yes
Inclusion Criteria: * Caregiver endorses regulatory screen use * Child age 30-54 months at enrollment * English speaking Exclusion Criteria: * Intellectual disability or global developmental delay * Autism spectrum disorder * Child in the custody of DCF
Interventions
- BehavioralBrief-RSU
Brief-RSU Intervention: The Brief-RSU intervention consists of three, 60-minute sessions, outlined in Table 1. Brief-RSU aims to reduce RSU while increasing adaptive caregiver tools. Treatment targets include: 1) psychoeducation, 2) scheduling screen time to consistent times, 3) "planning ahead" for times when RSU is likely to occur, and 4) teaching the RULER approach\[9, 10\] to strengthen caregiver socialization of child emotion regulation (replacement behavior).
Location
- Developmental MedicineBoston, Massachusetts