Parental Intervention Strategies to Reduce Screen Time Among Preschool-aged Children: A Systematic Review
https://doi.org/10.47836/mjmhs.18.6.38
- Author:
Diana Raj
1
,
2
;
Nor Afiah binti Mohd Zulkefli
1
;
Halimatus Sakdiah Minhat
1
;
Norliza Ahmad
1
Author Information
1. Department of Community Health, Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences, University Putra Malaysia, 43400 Serdang, Selangor, Malaysia&
2. Ministry of Health Malaysia
- Publication Type:Other Types
- Keywords:
Child, Preschool, Screen time, Parents, Interventions
- From:Malaysian Journal of Medicine and Health Sciences
2022;18(No.6):295-304
- CountryMalaysia
- Language:English
-
Abstract:
Aims: Children below five years have been the target of screen time guidelines. The adverse health outcomes associated with it require focusing on prime strategies for reducing screen time. The current study reviews parental intervention strategies to reduce screen time among preschool-aged children. Design: Systematic review. Data sources: A
total of five databases of the Cochrane register of controlled trials, CINAHL, Medline PubMed, and Scopus databases
were searched from May 1 to 31, 2020. Review Methods: The keywords of “screen time”, “television”, “video”,
“computer”, “mobile device”, “hand phone”, “media use”, “preschool-aged children”, “interventions”, and “strategies” used for search. The inclusion criteria are limited to specific study populations, intervention, comparison and
outcomes (PICOs), language, and published study types. The quality of articles was assessed using the Cochrane Risk
of Bias (RoB) tool. Results: A total of six studies that met the inclusion criteria were further analysed. It showed that
besides providing knowledge and awareness regarding screen time, restrictive practices, offering alternative activities
to parents and removing the screen from the child’s bedroom were the most common strategies used by successful
studies. The duration of intervention between 6-8weeks was sufficient to observe screen time reduction, while faceto-face methods dominated the mode of delivery. Increasing parental self-efficacy, listing outcome expectations, and
reinforcement strategies targeting both the parents and their home environment were beneficial in reducing screen
time. Conclusion: Future screen time reduction studies could benefit from incorporating the above approaches for
screen time reduction intervention among preschool children.
- Full text:11.2022my1388.pdf
