[Community strategy for digital well-being for children and adolescents: a longitudinal participatory intervention]

To describe the design process, through participatory diagnosis and community validation, of a municipal digital well-being strategy with a preventive approach focused on families with children under 16 years of age.

A community-based participatory action research study with a longitudinal design (November 2023-November 2025) was conducted in El Prat de Llobregat, framed within the Local Plan for Childhood and Adolescence. It was structured into three phases: 1) participatory diagnosis through a questionnaire administered to 1583 guardians and four focus groups; 2) collaborative desing inolving plenary sessions and age- stratified working groups; and 3) community, institutional, and political validation. The theory of change and qualitative-quantitative methodological triangulation were applied.

The diagnosis identified five thematic categories: parental overwhelm, normative inconsistency, impact on free play and physical activity, demand for practical age-adapted tools, and the tension between protection and autonomy in adolescence. The collaborative design culminated in an action plan comprising four strategic lines. Community validation demonstrated an acceptance rate exceeding 85%, with unanimous institutional and political support. The materials are publicly available (www.elprat.cat/benestardigital).

A process that incorporated participatory diagnosis, intersectoral leadership, community validation, application of the Theory of Change, and the production of accessible materials enabled the design of a municipal strategy for the digital well-being of families with children under 16 that was widely accepted and theoretically reproducible. The impact evaluation of the strategy, scheduled for 2026-2027, is expected to provide evidence on the effectiveness of the interventions in real-world implementation contexts.