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TV guides: exposure of hospitalized children to inappropriate programming
Dina M DiMaggio1, Iman Sharif, Jamie Hoffman-Rosenfeld
1Albert Einstein College of Medicine/Children's Hospital at Montefiore, Bronx, NY 10467, USA.
Insights
Hospitalized children frequently view inappropriate TV content, despite American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) guidelines. This exposure is higher when parents are present, highlighting a missed opportunity for education on child television viewing recommendations.
Area of Science:
- Pediatric Health
- Media and Child Development
- Public Health Interventions
Background:
- The American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) provides guidelines on appropriate television viewing for children.
- Inpatient pediatric settings may present unique challenges and opportunities regarding media exposure for hospitalized children.
Purpose of the Study:
- To assess adherence to AAP television viewing policy recommendations in an inpatient pediatric environment.
- To identify factors influencing exposure to inappropriate television programming among pediatric inpatients.
Main Methods:
- An observational study was conducted in an inner-city academic medical center.
- Researchers observed television content in rooms of 199 pediatric inpatients when children were present, awake, and alert.
- Programming was classified as appropriate or inappropriate based on AAP guidelines and a television rating system.
Main Results:
- Over 90% of pediatric inpatients had televisions on, with 53% exposed to inappropriate programming.
- Exposure to inappropriate content was highest among infants and toddlers (74%) and increased when an adult was present (58%).
- Parental demographics did not significantly predict exposure, but presence of an adult was a notable factor, especially for adolescents.
Conclusions:
- Hospitalized children are frequently exposed to television programming not aligned with AAP recommendations.
- The presence of parents/adults in the room correlates with increased exposure to inappropriate content.
- Inpatient hospital stays offer a crucial opportunity to educate parents on pediatric media guidelines.
Objective:
To determine if the policy recommendations of the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) regarding television viewing are heeded in an inpatient pediatric setting.
Setting:
An inner-city academic medical center.
Participants:
Consecutive sample of 199 pediatric inpatients.
Methods:
An investigator visited all pediatric inpatient rooms. Observations were made when the patient was present in the room, alert, and awake. The main outcome measure was exposure to inappropriate programming. In accordance with AAP guidelines, we used the established television rating system to code programs as appropriate versus inappropriate for children. We classified G- and PG-rated shows that centered on adult themes or that were not informational, educational, and nonviolent as inappropriate. We tested parental demographics, age of child, time of day, and presence of an adult in the room as possible predictors.
Results:
Ninety-one percent of the patients had the television turned on. Of these, 53% were tuned to inappropriate programming. Exposure to inappropriate programming did not differ by parental ethnicity, language, or education. Exposure was highest for infants and toddlers as compared with children or adolescents (74% vs 40% vs 52%, P =.001); it did not vary by time of day. Exposure was higher when an adult was present in the room (58% vs 42%, P =.05); this effect was most pronounced for adolescents (68% vs 41%, P =.05).
Conclusions:
Despite AAP recommendations, hospitalized children are exposed to inappropriate programming, especially when parents are present in the room. Hospital stays may be a unique opportunity to educate parents about the AAP recommendations for television viewing by children.