IOSR Journal of Nursing and Health Science (IOSR-JNHS) e-ISSN: 2320–1959.p- ISSN: 2320–1940 Volume 8, Issue 1 Ver. II. (Jan. - Feb .2019), PP 61-69 www.iosrjournals.org DOI: 10.9790/1959-0801026169 www.iosrjournals.org 61 | Page Children Safety Screen Media Exposure Educational Program: Parents’ Knowledge, Attitude and Application Eman Ali Moselhi Mater, 1 Somaya Ahmed Bayoumy. 2 1. Lecturer in Pediatric Nursing Department, Faculty of Nursing, Cairo University, Egypt 2. Lecturer in Nursing Administration Department, Faculty of Nursing, Cairo University, Egypt Corresponding Author: Eman Ali Moselhi Mater Abstract:Screen media is an extensive force that is becoming dominant in the lives of children. It is now part of the daily routine of infants, toddlers and preschoolers.Chronic use of media may have several negative effects on child development and quality of life. The American Academy of Pediatrics recommends that parents take attention by following safety screen media exposure recommendations. Aim:This study aimed to investigate effect of an educational program about children safety screen media exposure on parent’s knowledge,attitude and application. Patients and methods:Apre/posttestqusi experimental design was done on a convenience sample of 40 parents attendingpsychiatric clinic at Center of Social and Preventive Medicine, Cairo University.Structured interview questionnaire developed by the researchers, includesfourparts: personal characteristics of parents and their children; parent's knowledge; attitude and application of children safety screen media exposure. Results There was a statistically significant difference between pre/posttestregarding level of knowledge of parents (p<0.00). The mean score of parents’ knowledge levels were 5.60±1.373 and 9.97±2. 57 respectively, slightly less than three quarter of parents had positive attitude after educational program than before (72.5%, 17.5% respectively) and less than half of parents (42.5%) stated that they able to apply their plan about children safe media exposure at home. Conclusion: Aneducational program about children safety screen media exposure improved level of knowledge, attitude and application of parents toward children safety screen media exposure . Recommendations :Counselling sessions about children safety screen media exposure have be established routinely in outpatient clinics. Keywords: an educational program, knowledge, attitude, screen media exposure --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Date of Submission: 22-12-2018 Date of acceptance: 07-01-2019 --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- I. Introduction Today, children are spending a large amount of time exposure to media (Sigman, 2012). A child who excessively exposure to media may become isolated and fail to develop normal communication skills, less able to identify social cues and be less attentive. A child may avoid social interaction by spending more time using screen mediato avoid social anxiety because of undeveloped social skills. Overexposure to media has been associated with aggressive behavior, attention deficits and hyper activity (Grontved& Hu, 2011). Chronic use of media can also affect a child’s mental health and have several negative effects on child development and quality of life(Christakis, 2014; Erikson Institute, 2016). Screen media should be recognized as a major public health issue and reducing it should become a new priority for child health. Research, standards and recommendations are urgently required regarding children safetyscreen media exposure to keep children away from the negative effects of excessive media exposure through the cell phone, the television, the computer, and iPods (Sigman, 2012;Erikson Institute, 2016). Assess Parents’ knowledge and attitudes toward screen media are found to be key mechanisms influencing decisions related to screen media exposure at home (Takeuchi, 2011). American Academy Of Pediatrics, (2016) andCanadian Pediatric Society, (2017) recommended some recommendation to families about children safety screen media exposure as the following: avoid digital media use (except video-chatting) in children younger than 2 years, limit screen use to 1 hour per dayfor children from 2 to 5 years old, turn off screen media when not in use, avoid using media as the only way to calm your child,monitor children’s media content, avoid screen media during mealtimes, no screens 1 hour before bedtime, remove devices from bedrooms,avoid violent games and sexual videos, minimize exposure to advertisement, help your children to understand what they are seeing, have to be a good model and prepare screen time plan at home.