Digital Parenting Education: Impact on Mothers' Social Media Use and Children's Tech Attitudes

Condition(s) studied

Investigational drug(s) / intervention(s)

Digital parenting education: Description: The digital parenting training to be given to mothers consists of 8 sessions of 20 minutes each. In the first week of the training process, a meeting will be held with the mothers in the experimental group and a brief introduction will be made to the subject. In the second week, information will be provided on the following topics: "Definition and Roles of Digital Parenting", "How Does the Use of Information Technologies Affect the Parent-Child Relationship?", "How Does the Use of Information Technologies Affect Children's Behavior?", "How Should Social Media Be Used Properly?", "What are the Opportunities and Risks of Information Technologies for Parents and Children?", and "What Should Parents Pay Attention to in the Use of Information Technologies?" in the sixth week. In the eighth week, "Question and Answer/Closing" will be conducted to collect post-test data and end the training session.

Study summary

The aim of the study was to evaluate the knowledge and attitudes of mothers regarding social media addiction and their children's technology use.

The research is a randomized controlled trial. The universe of the research consists of all family health center affiliated with the Artvin Provincial Health Directorate, and the sample consists of mothers with healthy preschool children (3-6 years old) registered in family health center No. 1, determined by drawing lots.

The sample size was determined as 152 participants, with 76 assigned to the experimental group and 76 to the control group. The digital parenting training to be given to mothers consists of 8 sessions of 20 minutes each. The digital parenting training content, presentation and brochure were prepared according to the Ministry of Family and Social Services' "Parental Guide for Protecting Children from Digital Risks", the Ministry of Health's "Technology Addiction Parental Guide" and the Presidency's Directorate of Communications' "Social Media Usage Guide". Opinions of 10 experts were received for the prepared training presentation and brochure. As a result of the evaluation, descriptive statistics; number (N) and percentage (%) for variables between groups, mean, standard deviation (SD), minimum (min), maximum (max) values for numerical data and significance level will be stated as p\<0.05.

Eligibility

Primary outcome measure(s)

• Parental Knowledge Change on Technology Use Post-Intervention — 12 weeks
  The Parental Knowledge Scale on Technology Use is a 10-item, unidimensional instrument designed to quantitatively assess parents' cognitive understanding of children's technology use. Each item is rated on a 5-point Likert scale (0 = strongly disagree to 4 = strongly agree). The total score ranges from 0 to 40, with higher scores indicating greater knowledge and awareness. Since the scale measures a single construct, total scores are used for pre- and post-intervention comparisons. An increase in score post-intervention is interpreted as improved parental knowledge. The scale has demonstrated acceptable psychometric properties, including internal consistency and construct validity, and is suitable for use in educational research on digital parenting.
• Parental Attitude Change on Technology Use Post-Intervention — 12 weeks
  The Parental Attitude Scale on Technology Use is a 19-item, multidimensional instrument designed to assess parental perspectives regarding children's technology use. Items are rated on a 5-point Likert scale (0 = strongly disagree to 4 = strongly agree) across two sub-dimensions: behavioral (parental control, rules, supervision) and relational (communication and relational strategies). Scores are calculated separately for each sub-dimension; computing a total score is methodologically inappropriate. Scores range from 0 to 76 (maximum 38 per dimension). Higher subscale scores reflect more conscious, structured parental attitudes. Pre- and post-intervention scores are compared to evaluate changes in parental behavior and approach. The scale's reliability and factorial validity have been confirmed in prior research.
• Social Media Addiction Level Change Post-Intervention — 12 weeks
  The Social Media Addiction Scale is a 20-item tool used to measure individuals' perceived social media addiction. Items are rated on a 5-point Likert scale and divided into two sub-dimensions: virtual tolerance (self-control and usage tolerance) and virtual communication (social interactions via platforms). Total scores range from 20 to 100, with higher scores reflecting greater perceived dependence and addictive tendencies. While not diagnostic, the scale offers insight into social media-related behaviors. It is used for pre- and post-intervention comparisons to assess the impact of digital parenting education. The scale's psychometric strength, including reliability and construct validity, is well established.

Trial sites (1)

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