Parent perceptions of screen time use in young children with Autism Spectrum Disorder

Ebrahim, Faatima Omarjee

Parent perceptions of screen time use in young children with Autism Spectrum Disorder

Master Thesis

2022

Abstract

Screen time (ST) relates to accessing and engaging with electronic media, technology and devices that involves any type of screen. The global advancement and increasing availability of technology, together with the impact of COVID-19 pandemic restrictions on social engagement, appears to have led to a growing presence of ST in the lives of young children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD). Excessive ST has been associated with developmental delays, sleep disturbances, reduced physical activity and other health problems which can have significant negative impacts on the occupational engagement of children with ASD. Despite these concerns, little to no research focussing on ST use by children with ASD, nor of its impacts on their engagement in other occupations, has been conducted in middle-income countries, like South Africa. A qualitative descriptive design, using semi-structured, in-depth interviews with seven purposively selected participants in line with maximum variation, was used to explore and describe parents' perceptions of ST of their children with ASD. The study aimed to promote a better understanding of how and why their children used ST, what the effect of ST was on their children's lives, what strategies their parents used to mediate ST and the impact that the COVID19 pandemic had on ST use. The information gained will be used to inform intervention guidelines for the management of ST and for optimising its use, for children with ASD. Through a process of thematic analysis, four themes emerged from the data. The theme Seeking out ST opportunities described how children used ST in keeping with their interests and how their limited interest in non-ST activities made them seek opportunities for ST. Theme two, ST, a mixed blessing confirmed how parents viewed ST to have both benefits and drawbacks for their children and described how they tried to come to terms with ST as it created opposing effects in their children's lives. Theme three Striving to provide conditional access to ST found that these parents used a variety of restrictive mediation strategies to manage their child's ST, whilst trying to avoid the stress caused by limiting ST and allowing for its use under certain conditions. The fourth theme COVID-19 “intensified the whole screen time business” highlighted how ST became an appealing replacement during the pandemic adding new challenges that parents experienced with managing its use. Overall, these findings acknowledged the challenges and positive contributions that parents of children with ASD experienced because of ST of their children, which were exacerbated during the COVID-19 pandemic. This study supports the need for early childhood interventionists to consider ST as a significant occupation of children with ASD, that requires attention.