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Feasibility StudiesNCT03788525

Reduction of Screen-Based Media Use in Families With Children

A study testing Reduced recreational screen time and Timed recreational screen time in people with Feasibility Studies, run by University of Southern Denmark at 1 site in Denmark.

Completed

Finished. The study has ended and is not enrolling. Results may be posted on the official record.

Official record
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Trial summary

The purpose of this pilot experiment is threefold. 1. To assess the efficacy of the recruitment strategy 2. To assess the acceptability and feasibility of the outcome measurement methods obtained in free-living in the participants homes 3. Read more about this study

Who is it for?
Ages 4 years and olderHealthy volunteers can take part
Conditions the study is for
Feasibility Studies
What is being tested?
Reduced recreational screen time and Timed recreational screen time
Could I receive a placebo?
No, everyone receives an active treatment
How many people
33 participants
Where
1 siteDenmark
Study dates
12 Nov 2018to 20 Mar 2019
Phase
Interventional
Are there results?
None posted in the registry

Key requirements

Who can take part, as listed by the sponsor. Only the study team can confirm whether you are eligible, so take this list to your doctor.

  • Ages 4 years and older
  • All sexes
  • Healthy volunteers accepted
  • Child, Adult, Older adult

Who may be able to join

  • High amount of screen-based media according to self-report (based on the adults only)
  • In each household, at least one adult and one child must be above the 50th percentile for self-reported screen-based media use (characterized as "high" in this study). The 50th percentile is based on the responses from all adults who answered the recruitment survey.
  • The children in the household are ≥ 4 and ≤ 18 years old, at the time the survey is sent out. In this way sleep measurements do not get distorted by infants and toddlers in the household (e.g. sleep).
  • Adults and children who participate in the measurements must have the resources to remove all recreational- and work-/school-related screen-time in the evening hours, with a few exceptions, for a period of 2 weeks (intervention length).
  • Participants must report that they consider the extent of their screen-based media use an issue
  • Participants must report to be motivated to decrease screen-based media use for the whole family household.
  • Family members who choose to not participate or are ineligible must be willing to support the success of this family experiment.

Who cannot join

  • If the adults or children only reside in the household part time, i.e. have multiple addresses
  • Diagnosis of stress from their general practitioner within the last year
  • Diagnosis of sleep disorders from their general practitioner within the last year
  • Working night shifts
  • In any shape or form limited in one's ability to participate in habitual physical activity
  • Has or is in inquiry of Neuropsychiatric disorders, such as Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) or development disorders such as Autism.
  • Already participating in research studies, such as the Odense Child Cohort

Trial locations and contacts

1 site in 1 country.

Denmark1 site
  • University of Southern Denmark

    Odense, Funen, 5230

Other trials in Denmark

About this study

Official title: Reduction of Screen-Based Media Use in Families With Children: a Randomized Pilot Trial

The purpose of this pilot experiment is threefold.

  1. To assess the efficacy of the recruitment strategy
  2. To assess the acceptability and feasibility of the outcome measurement methods obtained in free-living in the participants homes
  3. To assess the acceptability of the prescribed interventions to reduce screen media use
Read the detailed description

Modern day's excessive use of screen-based media is heavily discussed in the public in terms of its possible harmful effects on physical and mental health among children and adults. To date there is little rigorously conducted research available on the effects of high use of todays screen-based media. Of particular notice, no controlled experimental studies in free-living have been carried out to study the immediate effects of screen-based media use on habitual physical activity patterns, sleep, and temporary stress- and emotional state.

To undertake a large-scale randomized controlled trial of the efficacy of limiting screen-based media use in families of parents and children the investigators aim to conduct a pilot study to assess the acceptability and feasibility of the outcome measurement methods obtained in free-living in the participants homes and the acceptability of the prescribed interventions to reduce screen media use. The investigators also perform the pilot study to investigate the efficacy of our recruitment strategy.

The participating families (households with children ≥4 and <18 years old) will be invited to answer a recruitment questionnaire sent out to their personal digital mailbox, which is a compulsory digital solution to receive mail from i.e. public authorities. Based on the survey answers eligible families (see section on inclusion/exclusion criteria) will be invited to participate in this pilot experiment. Families who are willing to participate will be randomized to one of two intervention groups after completion of the baseline measurement protocol. One group must reduce all recreational screen-based media use to less than three hours per week for a period of two weeks. Participants in this group will be asked to hand over their portable screen devices and in exchange they will be handed an old model Nokia phone. The other group must remove all screen-based media use (both work-related and recreational) after 6PM for a period of two weeks. The experiment does not include a control group. To ensure compliance to the interventions, the investigators will install an app, which will measure screen use on each participant's smartphone(s) and tablet(s). Furthermore, the investigators will connect a device to all televisions in each household, which will monitor television usage. To investigate the effect of the interventions all participants will go through a 7-day measurement protocol just before the family is randomized to one of the interventions and again during the last week of the intervention period.

Being tested
Reduced recreational screen time, Timed recreational screen time
Keywords
Screen time

What participants receive

What participants receive. In a randomised study each person is assigned to one group by chance.

  • Reduced recreational screen timeBehavioural

    Participants must remove all recreational screen-based media use beyond 3 hours/week. This includes all recreational screen-based media use inside and outside the household. As a tool to comply with the intervention the families will hand-over all portable screen-based media devices. In return, each participant who own a smartphone will receive a regular cell-phone which can only make phone calls and send text messages. For a maximum of ½ an hour a day, adult participants may use this device for necessary contact. The families are allowed a maximum of 3 hours/week of recreational screen time. If participants can not hand over their smartphones due to daily use for work purposes we will install an app tracking screen use on these devices.

  • Timed recreational screen timeBehavioural

    Participants must remove all recreational screen-based media use after 6 PM. There are no restrictions on the amount of screen-based media use before 6 PM. Thus, before 6 PM, the participants must continue their habitual screen-based media use completely. However, after 6 PM, both work-related and recreational screen-based media use must be removed completely.

Study groups in NCT03788525
Study groupRoleWhat they receive
Reduced recreational screen timeExperimentalReducing recreational screen-based media use for a period of 2 weeks
Receives: Behavioral: Reduced recreational screen time
Timed recreational screen timeExperimentalReduced and timed recreational screen-based media use for a period of 2 weeks
Receives: Behavioral: Timed recreational screen time

What is being measured

The primary outcome is the main question the study is designed to answer.

  1. Compliance to prescribed intervention (objective assessment)

    Proportion of participants who are compliant to the prescribed intervention.

    Compliance is assessed objectively using data from the Device Tracker App (installed on all portable devices) and the television monitor installed on all televisions in the household.

    Measured: 14 days (experiment period)

  2. Compliance to prescribed intervention (subjective assessment)

    Proportion of participants who are compliant to the prescribed intervention.

    Compliance is assessed subjectively through a daily screen-media dairy. All participants are required to hold the daily screen-media dairy throughout the experiment period.

    Measured: 14 days (experiment period)

Secondary outcomes (5)
  1. Compliance to objective physical activity measurement

    Proportion of participants wearing the accelerometer belts (Axivity AX3) for at least four out of seven measurements days at baseline and follow-up (at least one day must be a weekend day).

    Measured: 14 days (experiment period)

  2. Compliance to sleep measurement

    Proportion of participants wearing the sleep equipment (Zmachine Insight+) for at least two out of three measurement nights at baseline and follow-up.

    Measured: 14 days (experiment period)

  3. Compliance to heart rate variability measurement

    Proportion of participants wearing the heart rate variability device (Firstbeat Bodyguard 2) for at least two out of three measurement days at baseline and follow-up.

    Measured: 14 days (experiment period)

  4. Compliance to saliva sampling protocol (only in adults)

    Proportion of participants delivering salivary samples from two out of three measurement days which is equivalent to eight out of twelve samples at baseline and follow-up.

    Samples are collected by the participant at awakening, 30 min. after awakening, 45 min. after awakening, and just before bedtime.

    Measured: 14 days (experiment period)

  5. Feasibility of the recruitment strategy

    Proportion of invited participants completing the full experiment period. Participants are invited and recruited continuously throughout the study.

    Measured: Up to four months

Timeline

From the start of the study to its completion; the mark is today. Estimated dates are the sponsor’s plan.

  1. First posted27 Dec 2018
  2. Study start12 Nov 2018
  3. Primary completion20 Mar 2019
  4. Study completion20 Mar 2019

Resources

More details

For doctors and researchers: how the study is designed, who runs it, and its registry IDs.

Study design
Study type
Interventional
Phase
Phase N/A
Primary purpose
Other
Allocation
Randomised
Intervention model
Parallel groups
Masking
None (open label)
Enrolment
33 participants (actual)
IDs, dates and publications
ClinicalTrials.gov ID
NCT03788525
Sponsor's protocol ID
S-20170213
Other IDs
716657
Status last verified
May 2022
First submitted
20 Dec 2018
Last updated
24 May 2022
Results posted
No
Data monitoring committee
No
FDA-regulated drug
No
FDA-regulated device
No

Publications

  • Rasmussen MGB, Pedersen J, Olesen LG, Kristensen PL, Brond JC, Grontved A. Feasibility of two screen media reduction interventions: Results from the SCREENS pilot trial. PLoS One. 2021 Nov 15;16(11):e0259657. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0259657. eCollection 2021.

    PubMed 34780511
  • Sorensen SO, Pedersen J, Rasmussen MG, Kristensen PL, Grontved A. Feasibility of home-based sampling of salivary cortisol and cortisone in healthy adults. BMC Res Notes. 2021 Nov 2;14(1):406. doi: 10.1186/s13104-021-05820-4.

    PubMed 34727972
  • Pedersen J, Rasmussen M G B, Olesen L G, Kristensen P L, Grøntved A. Self-administered electroencephalography-based sleep assessment: compliance and perceived feasibility in children and adults. Sleep Science and Practice. 2021; 5(1):8. doi.org/10.1186/s41606-021-00059-1

Questions about this trial

What is this clinical trial studying?

A study testing Reduced recreational screen time and Timed recreational screen time in people with Feasibility Studies, run by University of Southern Denmark at 1 site in Denmark.

The full registered description is in the About this study section and the official record.

Who may be eligible to take part?

The sponsor lists 7 inclusion and 7 exclusion criteria. Eligibility is decided by the study team after screening, so read the full criteria and contact a listed site.

Is this clinical trial currently recruiting?

The record says: finished, as of the sponsor's last update on 24 May 2022. Status can change between updates, so confirm with the study contact before making plans.

Where is the study taking place?

The record lists 1 site in Denmark. Whether a site is taking part right now should be confirmed with that site. See every site.

What are the possible benefits and risks?

They depend on the study and the treatment, and no study can promise a benefit. The study team explains the known risks during informed consent, before anyone joins; the record itself does not list them.

Are results available for this study?

The study is completed, but results are not available in the source record. That does not mean the treatment did or did not work.

How can a doctor refer a patient or contact the research team?

The record lists no contact. The official record names the sponsor, who can be asked directly. AzTrials does not enrol participants or take referrals.

What does the primary outcome measure?

Compliance to prescribed intervention (objective assessment) (time frame: 14 days (experiment period)). The study lists 2 primary outcomes in all. It is what the study was designed to measure, not a finding.

Where can I read the original study information?

On the ClinicalTrials.gov record for NCT03788525, which also lists 3 linked publications.

Does a listing mean the treatment is approved or proven to work?

No. A listing means the study is registered. It does not show that the treatment is safe, works, or is approved by a regulator.

How often is this information updated?

AzTrials copies changed records from ClinicalTrials.gov every night and reloads the whole registry every week. The sponsor last updated this record on 24 May 2022.

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