Mothers’ Perception Regarding Effect of Internet Usage on Health Status of their Children

El Hamady, Safaa Abd El Fatah; Farag, Nagafa Hafez; Hafez, Zeinab El Sayed

doi:10.21608/tsnj.2024.361814

Mothers’ Perception Regarding Effect of Internet Usage on Health Status of their Children

Document Type : Original Article

Authors

¹ 1Nursing Specialist at Kafer Elsheikh University Hospital, Egypt

² 2Assistant Prof. of Pediatric Nursing, Faculty of Nursing, Tanta University, Egypt.

³ Lecturer of Pediatric Nursing, Faculty of Nursing, Tanta University, Egypt

10.21608/tsnj.2024.361814

Abstract

Background: Internet is easily accessible for children. Excess screen time exposure can cause negative impact on physical, social, emotional, and psychological wellbeing of children. The study was aimed to assess mothers' perception regarding the effect of internet usage on health status of their children. Design: A descriptive research design was utilized Subject: Purposive sampling of 150 mothers and their preschool age children were included in the study Setting: the study was conducted at Hemayt El Osra Nursery School, Childhood Care and Development Center, Jannati Nursery and El Shaima Nursery. Tools: two tools were utilized Tool I: Internet usage questionnaire. Tool II: mothers' attitude regarding internet usage on health status of their children. Results: More than two quarters (76%) of studied mothers had moderate level of knowledge about internet usage and 64% of them had negative attitudes toward internet usage. Conclusion: it could be concluded that more than three quarters of the studied mothers had moderate level of knowledge about internet usage on health status of their children, while two thirds of them had negative attitudes toward internet usage on health status of their children. There was positive significant correlation between mothers’ education and their total knowledge score. Additionally, there was no statistically significant correlation between total mothers’ knowledge and their total attitude scores. Recommendations: Educational instructions must be designed for mothers to raise awareness about the detrimental impacts of internet usage on their children's health.