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Balancing Emotions and Electronics: A Pilot Intervention for Preschoolers
Sponsor: Boston Children's Hospital
Summary
This study is testing a brief, virtual therapy for caregivers of preschool children. The goal is to reduce use of screen time to regulate young children's emotions and boredom, i.e. "regulatory screen use" (RSU). We expect that RSU negatively impacts young children's ability to cope with emotions and boredom. Thus, reducing RSU should improve children's self-regulation. The intervention will include three, 60-minute group sessions with caregivers, and remote data collection at three time points (pre-intervention, post-intervention, and 1-month follow-up).
Official title: Brief Tech-Parenting for Regulatory Screen Use in Young Children: A Pilot Study
Key Details
Gender
All
Age Range
30 Months - 54 Months
Study Type
INTERVENTIONAL
Enrollment
30
Start Date
2026-03-01
Completion Date
2026-10-26
Last Updated
2026-03-18
Healthy Volunteers
Yes
Conditions
Interventions
Brief-RSU
Brief-RSU Intervention: The Brief-RSU intervention consists of three, 60-minute sessions, outlined in Table 1. Brief-RSU aims to reduce RSU while increasing adaptive caregiver tools. Treatment targets include: 1) psychoeducation, 2) scheduling screen time to consistent times, 3) "planning ahead" for times when RSU is likely to occur, and 4) teaching the RULER approach\[9, 10\] to strengthen caregiver socialization of child emotion regulation (replacement behavior).
Locations (1)
Developmental Medicine
Boston, Massachusetts, United States