Use of screen media in children hospitalized in the pediatric rooms of the Mario Catarino Rivas Hospital from June to July 2023

Abstract

Background: In the era of advancing technology the use of screen media has increased tremendously among youth and children, as they are able to use electronic media devices anywhere and anytime. These children are known as "DIGITAL NATIVES "1. During observations in hospital settings, screen media were used by between 21% and 80% of hospitalized children2.

 Objective: To examine the average duration and factors associated with the use of screen media in children hospitalized in the pediatric

wards of the Mario Catarino Rivas Hospital, in the period June-July 2023.

Patients and methodology: Observational, prospective, cross- sectional clinical study, carried out in 300 patients who met the inclusion criteria. Sampling was used by means of a pilot study of differences between genders with a random sample of 30. Taking an alpha error of 0.05 and a 2- tailed power of 0.95.

Results: The predominant age group was adolescents (34%), with an average hospitalization of 5 days, and the cell phone was the most frequent screen device (95%). Twenty-five percent of caregivers stated that the main reason for screen use was secondary to not having alternative activities during hospitalization and secondly because of difficulty in stopping screen use.

Conclusions: The average duration of screen use in children was 9 hours, since as they grow in age they have easier access to more screen media, demonstrating with adolescents that they had one hour more exposure than the rest of the other age groups and with the educational level of the caregivers being a decisive factor since those with a university degree had an exposure of 3 hours less to screen compared to caregivers with no educational rank.