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Updated: Nov 7, 2025
Psychophysiological Assessment of the Effectiveness of Emotion Regulation Strategies in Childhood
Published on: February 11, 2017
How effective is family counselling on screen exposure of pre-school children?
Evin İlter Bahadur1, Pınar Zengin Akkuş1, Tuba Çelen Yoldaş1
1Division of Developmental Pediatrics, Department of Pediatrics, Hacettepe University Faculty of Medicine, Ankara, Turkey.
Insights
Pediatric counseling effectively reduces children's screen time. This approach benefits both typically developing children and those with neurodevelopmental disorders, promoting healthier media habits.
Area of Science:
- Developmental Pediatrics
- Child Psychology
- Public Health
Background:
- Excessive screen time and background television exposure are prevalent global issues.
- Intervention studies are crucial for addressing these challenges in child development.
- This research focuses on family-based counseling within developmental pediatrics clinics.
Purpose of the Study:
- To evaluate the efficacy of clinic-based counseling in reducing screen time for children.
- To compare the intervention's impact on typically developing children versus those with neurodevelopmental disorders.
- To assess changes in co-viewing, reading, and playtime.
Main Methods:
- Inclusion of children aged 24-62 months with at least 2 hours/day of screen time.
- Three counseling sessions provided to parents on reducing screen time.
- Parental reporting of daily screen time, co-viewing, background TV, reading, and playtime.
Main Results:
- 105 children participated (22 typically developing, 83 with neurodevelopmental disorders).
- Screen time significantly decreased in both groups post-intervention.
- Neurodevelopmental disorder group showed greater improvements in co-viewing and playtime.
Conclusions:
- Pediatric office-based counseling, incorporating American Academy of Pediatrics media guidelines, is effective.
- The intervention successfully reduces screen time in both typically developing children and those with neurodevelopmental disorders.
- This strategy offers a practical approach to managing screen time in early childhood.
Background:
Excessive screen viewing and background TV exposure are common problems all over the world. Therefore, intervention studies have gained importance. This study aims to investigate the effectiveness of family-based, developmental pediatrics clinic setting counseling in reducing screen time in typically developing children and to compare them with neurodevelopmental disorders.
Methods:
Children (aged 24-62 months) who were exposed to screen viewing for at least 2 hours/day were included. Parents were given three counseling sessions to reduce excessive screen time. Parents reported daily screen time, co-viewing, background TV exposure, the duration of reading books and playing with their child.
Results:
The study included 105 children (median age: 34 months IQR:28-41). Before counseling, the screen viewing time and the percentage of co-viewing among typically developing children (n=22) and children with a neurodevelopmental disorder (n=83) were similar. There was a statistically significant decrease in screen time in both groups after the intervention. A higher impact was shown in the neurodevelopmental disorder group. The increase in percentages of co-viewing, as well as the increase in the time spent playing with their children, were statistically significant in the neurodevelopmental disorder group.
Conclusions:
The study demonstrated that three pediatric office-setting counseling sessions including media use recommendations of the American Academy of Pediatrics are effective to decrease screen time for children who are either typically developing or with a neurodevelopmental disorder.
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