Date on Paper

8-2022

Document Type

Doctoral Paper

Degree Name

D.N.P.

Department

Nursing

Committee Chair

Coty, Mary-Beth

Committee Member

Clark, Rudy

Author's Keywords

Sedentary Behavior Questionnaire; Smartphone Addiction Scale; University of Louisville Resources for Academic Achievement; peer tutoring

Abstract

Background: Screen time overuse is a serious problem currently affecting college students. Studies have shown that too much screen time use can contribute to symptoms of depression and anxiety as well as stress, insomnia, and sedentary behavior contributing to obesity and cardiometabolic issues. Though much research has been devoted to assessing and reducing screen time use in children and adolescents, there are fewer published studies on interventions specific to college students. Therefore, the interventions for adolescents (ages 13 to 17) were reviewed and synthesized, as college students are close in age and brain development to late adolescent stage.

Setting: The University of Louisville’s (UofL) REACH center employs UofL student tutors to lead large- and small- group peer tutoring sessions. The EBP project was implemented with REACH peer tutors.

Purpose: To educate UofL REACH student tutors about the untoward health effects of screen time overuse, with a goal of reducing screen time use among the REACH participants.

Methods: An educational session was developed and delivered to 17 REACH tutors during a previously scheduled mid-semester training meeting. A pre- and post-test was given on the day of the educational session. Additionally, two questionnaires- the Sedentary Behavior Questionnaire and the Smartphone Addiction Scale were administered on the day of the educational session and six weeks later. Participants were also asked to keep a log of their recreational screen time for five weeks following the educational intervention and submit a screenshot of their smartphone use weekly during the 5-week screen time use data collection period.

Results:The scores on the pre- and post-tests showed that there was a statistically significant increase in participants’ knowledge about screen time use/overuse from pretest (M=5.23, SD= 1.09) to posttest (M=8.23, SD= 1.92), t(-5.602), p=

Conclusion: While there was no significant decrease in screen time use among the participants, the educational session did significantly increase the participants’ knowledge about the harmful effects of excessive screen time use.

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