MOTHERS' KNOWLEDGE AND PRACTICEREGARDING ELECTRONIC MEDIA USED BY THEIR CHILDREN

Background:Electronic media invade the world of young children in an unrestricted
way. Positive and negative long-term consequences have been revealed on development,
physical, and psychosocial milestone. However, no clear figure is available for developing
countries on electronic media used by children under five years. Consequently, it is
important to increase mothers' awareness of the proper usage of electronic media with
their children. Study aimed to assess mothers' knowledge and practice regarding electronic
media used by their children. A descriptive cross-sectional design was utilized in this study.
This study was conducted at 22 primary health care facilities affiliated to directorate of
Health and Population in Mansoura city including health offices, family health centers, and
primary health care units. A convenient sample of 421 of children under five years with
excluding children with special needs. Five tools were developed by the researcher for
collecting of data to assess; socio-demographic and economic characteristics of mothers
and their children, knowledge, practice and attitude of mothers regarding electronic media.
Results: study results revealed that 34.4% of the studied mothers had secondary education,
54.2 % of them lived in rural areas and 60.6% of them were housewives. 58.4% of the
studied children's age ranged from two to less than five years with mean 28.831(13.88)
months. Almost all of the studied children used Television. 85.3 % of them spent more than
two using various electronic media devices daily with a mean 4.520(2.494) hours and
44.7% of them had decreased sleep duration. 88.8% of the studied mothers spent more than
two using various electronic media devices daily with a mean 4.532(1.965). 82.9% of them
had poor level of knowledge regarding electronic media. All of them had improper practice
regarding electronic media. Conclusion: It is necessary to improve mothers' knowledge and
practice regarding electronic media for enhancing healthy life for their children. Finally, it
is recommended that continuous health education program and training courses regarding
electronic media.