The effect of primary care interventions on children's media viewing habits and exposure to violence.
OBJECTIVE
To determine if brief primary care interventions can affect children's media viewing habits and exposure to violence.


METHODS
English- and Spanish-speaking parents of 2- to 12-year-old children presenting to a pediatric primary care clinic participated in a randomized controlled trial. There were 2 intervention groups; one group viewed 5 minutes from the Play Nicely program and another received a handout, "Pulling the Plug on TV Violence." There were 2 control groups; the primary control group received standard primary care, and the alternative control group viewed a program about obesity prevention. The outcome measure was parental report of changes in media viewing habits and changes in exposure to violence.


RESULTS
A total of 312 of 443 parents who were randomized completed a 2-week follow-up survey. Compared with the primary control group, parents in the video intervention group were more likely to report a change in their children's media viewing habits (odds ratio [OR] 3.29; 95% confidence interval [CI] 1.66-6.51) and a change in their children's exposure to violence (OR 4.26; 95% CI 1.95-9.27). Compared with the primary control group, parents in the handout group were more likely to report a change in their children's media viewing habits (OR 4.35; 95% CI 2.20-8.60) and a change in their children's exposure to violence (OR 3.35; 95% CI 1.52-7.35).


CONCLUSIONS
Brief primary care interventions can affect children's media viewing habits and children's exposure to violence. These results have implications for how to improve primary care services related to decreasing children's media exposure and violence prevention.
Vanderbilt University School of Medicine, Nashville, Tenn.
Jill
J
Aragon Neely
Julia
J
Hudnut-Beumler
Margaret
M
White Webb
Antwon
A
Chavis
Mary S
MS
Dietrich
Len
L
Bickman
Seth J
SJ
Scholer
D000328:Adult; D002648:Child; D002675:Child, Preschool; D004505:Education, Nonprofessional; D005260:Female; D006184:Habits; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D016487:Parenting; D011320:Primary Health Care; D013690:Television; D014754:Violence / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*
aggression; child abuse; child behavior; counseling; education; intervention; parenting; pediatrics; prevention and control; primary care; violence