Adapting a Parenting Intervention to Promote Healthy Screen Time Habits in Young Children with Externalizing Behavior Problems

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Project Summary/Abstract The goal of this developmental/exploratory R21 application is to develop and pilot test an adapted screen time intervention for parents of young children with externalizing behavior problems. As young children's access and exposure to different types of screen media devices has increased, so has public health concern around the links between unhealthy early screen media use (including excessive use and exposure to inappropriate content) and poor child outcomes. Research shows that exposure to screen media and externalizing behavior problems in young children are linked. Externalizing behavior problems also present a significant barrier to parents attempting to adhere to screen media use recommendations. Despite these public health concerns, screen media use interventions have not yet specifically targeted children with externalizing behavior problems. To address this need, we propose to explore a novel approach to intervening around screen time, by adapting a behavioral parenting intervention designed for parents of children with externalizing behavior problems to integrate content around screen time. Leveraging an existing evidence-based parenting intervention will allow for the intervention to target parenting generally, as well as screen time specific parenting, without requiring additional resources. This R21 application will focus on adapting a group-based parenting intervention, the School Readiness Parenting Program (SRPP). The SRPP is an 8-week parenting intervention based on a group Parent-Child Interaction Therapy model. In total, 55 parents of preschool-aged children with externalizing behavior problems will be recruited. Following a development phase, we will conduct a small open trial (n = 15) to assess the feasibility of the screen time adapted intervention and families' satisfaction and response to treatment. At this phase, we will also pilot a multimodal method of tracking child screen use using objective data from mobile devices and parent-completed media use logs. Upon making modifications based on results of the open trial and feedback from an external advisory panel of experts and community stakeholders, a pilot randomized controlled trial (n = 40) will follow. Parents will be randomly assigned to receive either the screen time adapted SRPP (n = 20) or the original SRPP (n = 20) program. Assessment measures will be completed at prettest, posttest, and at a 1 month follow up. We will examine feasibility and acceptability of the screen time adapted intervention in the randomized controlled trial. We will also examine children's screen use patterns, including overall screen time, proportion of screen time that is educational, and frequency of parent-child co-use of screen media. In an exploratory fashion, we will examine the effect of the intervention on child externalizing behavior problems. The results of the proposed research will lay the foundation and provide critical pilot data for an R01 application to examine the efficacy of this adapted intervention across different parenting programs.