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INSIGHT responsive parenting intervention reduces infant's screen time and television exposure
Elizabeth L Adams1,2, Michele E Marini1, Jennifer Stokes3
1Center for Childhood Obesity Research, Penn State University, 129 Noll Laboratory, University Park, PA, 16802, USA.
Insights
The INSIGHT responsive parenting intervention successfully reduced early childhood screen time and television exposure. However, it did not increase interactive play, highlighting a need for further research in obesity prevention strategies.
Area of Science:
- Pediatric Health
- Behavioral Science
- Obesity Prevention
Background:
- Childhood sedentary behaviors, particularly screen time, are linked to increased overweight risk.
- Early intervention is crucial for establishing healthy habits from infancy.
- Responsive parenting (RP) strategies aim to mitigate these risks.
Purpose of the Study:
- To evaluate the impact of a responsive parenting (RP) intervention on reducing screen time and increasing interactive play in infants.
- To assess the effectiveness of the Intervention Nurses Start Infants Growing on Healthy Trajectories (INSIGHT) study in preventing childhood obesity.
Main Methods:
- A randomized trial (INSIGHT) comparing RP intervention with a control group.
- Intervention delivered by nurses from birth to 2 years, focusing on minimizing screen time and promoting interactive play.
- Mothers self-reported infant screen time and interactive play at multiple time points.
Main Results:
- RP intervention significantly reduced infant screen time and television exposure compared to controls.
- More RP parents adhered to AAP screen time recommendations at 44 weeks and 1 year.
- No significant differences were found in interactive play or tummy/floor time between groups.
Conclusions:
- The INSIGHT RP intervention effectively reduced early childhood screen time and television exposure.
- The intervention did not lead to an increase in interactive play.
- Further strategies are needed to enhance interactive play for comprehensive obesity prevention.
Background:
Sedentary behaviors, including screen time, in childhood have been associated with an increased risk for overweight. Beginning in infancy, we sought to reduce screen time and television exposure and increase time spent in interactive play as one component of a responsive parenting (RP) intervention designed for obesity prevention.
Methods:
The Intervention Nurses Start Infants Growing on Healthy Trajectories (INSIGHT) study is a randomized trial comparing a RP intervention with a safety control intervention. Primiparous mother-newborn dyads (N = 279) were randomized after childbirth. Research nurses delivered intervention content at infant ages 3, 16, 28, and 40 weeks and research center visits at 1 and 2 years. As one component of INSIGHT, developmentally appropriate messages on minimizing screen time, reducing television exposure in the home, and promoting parent-child engagement through interactive play were delivered. Mothers self-reported their infant's screen time at ages 44 weeks, 1, 1.5, 2 and 2.5 years; interactive play was reported at 8 and 20 weeks and 2 years.
Results:
More RP than control parents reported their infants met the American Academy of Pediatrics' no screen time recommendation at 44 weeks (53.0% vs. 30.2%) and at 1 year on weekdays (42.5% vs. 27.6%) and weekends (45.5% vs. 26.8%), but not after age 1 year. RP mothers and RP children had less daily screen time than controls at each time point (p ≤ 0.01). Fewer RP than control group mothers reported the television was ever on during infant meals (p < 0.05). The frequency of tummy time and floor play did not differ by study group; approximately 95% of infants spent time in restrictive devices (i.e. swing) at 8 and 20 weeks. At 2 years of age, there were no study group differences for time children spent in interactive play.
Conclusion:
From infancy to early childhood, the INSIGHT RP intervention reduced screen time and television exposure, but did not increase the frequency or amount of interactive play.
Trial Registration:
clinicaltrials.gov NCT01167270 . Registered on 21 July 2010.