Children and screens: what do parents know? Observational study in general practitioner consultation on Reunion Island

ABSTRACT

Introduction. Children over 4 years old spend an average 1 hour and 28 minutes per day, in France, in front of a television. The Covid pandemic increased this consumption. The noxious effects of screens are well known by the international scientific community, mainly on weight, sleep, learning and behaviour. These effects appear as of one hour of everyday use. Objectives. To study the knowledge about screens effects on children health of 0 to 9 years old children's parents consulting their general practitioner (GP). Method. An observational, descriptive, cross-sectional study, by anonymous self-survey, was led with 60 GP randomly chosen on Reunion island. Results were interpreted with a 13 points score. Results. Two hundred seventy-five surveys were included from February to march 2021. The average score was 10/13. Fifty-two percent respondents ignored the French 3 years old threshold. Thirty three percent thought that screens taught their children to speak and 9 % that it improved school results. Twenty-nine percent ignored the effects of background TV. Twenty-eight percent ignored the link between screens and obesity. Twenty-three percent considered screens as a good way to calm children. Ten percent were not convinced to be examples for their children. Fifty-three percent thought it was their GP's role to inform them about screens health issues. The total score was link to parents study level, presence of rules about screens at home, having already heard about this topic, duration of use of parents and children. Conclusion. The health effects of screens were well known by the population. The impact on weight, sleep and background TV were still ignored by some parents. GPs were the best discussion partner on this numerical prevention.