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Defining and measuring bedtime routines in families with young children-A DELPHI process for reaching wider consensus

George Kitsaras1, Michaela Goodwin1, Julia Allan2

  • 1Division of Dentistry, Dental Health Unit, University of Manchester, Manchester, United Kingdom.

Plos One
|February 24, 2021
PubMed

Insights

Experts reached a consensus on defining optimal bedtime routines for young children (ages 2-8). New measurement tools were developed to assess these crucial family activities and their impact on child development.

Area of Science:

  • Child Development
  • Family Health
  • Behavioral Science

Background:

  • Bedtime routines are vital family activities influencing child wellbeing, development, and health.
  • Optimal bedtime routines lack a clear definition and standardized measurement, hindering research and practice.
  • This study addresses the need for expert consensus on defining and measuring bedtime routines.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To achieve expert consensus on a definition of optimal bedtime routines for families with young children (ages 2-8).
  • To propose reliable measurement tools for assessing bedtime routines.
  • To establish a foundation for understanding the behavioral determinants of child health and development.

Main Methods:

  • A four-step DELPHI process involving 59 experts from diverse scientific, health, and social care backgrounds.
  • Iterative refinement of the definition and measurement of bedtime routines over three formal DELPHI rounds.
  • Validation of the proposed measurement against existing data post-DELPHI process.

Main Results:

  • A holistic definition of optimal bedtime routines for children aged 2-8 was achieved with 70% expert agreement.
  • Two measurement approaches were proposed: a static (one-off) and a dynamic (7-night) method.
  • Bland-Altman analysis indicated agreement between the static and dynamic measurements, suggesting they can be used interchangeably.

Conclusions:

  • The established definition and proposed measurements represent a significant advancement in quantifying bedtime routines.
  • These tools are crucial for capturing a key behavioral determinant linked to important child health and developmental outcomes.
  • Further research can utilize these consensus-based definitions and measurements to explore the impact of bedtime routines.
Abstract

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