The Examination of Technological Device Usage and Sleep Habits Among the Children Before and During the COVID-19 Pandemic

Abstract

Objective: This study was conducted to examine the technological device usage states and sleep habits of 5-12 year-old children before and during the Coronavirus disease-2019 (COVID-19) pandemic. Materials and Methods: It is a descriptive study. This study was conducted with the parents of 488 children who were aged between 5-12 years old and studying in a kindergarten, 3 elementary schools and 3 secondary schools between March 2021 and June 2021. Data were collected by "Descriptive Information Form" and the "Children's Sleep Habits Questionnaire (CSHQ)" in the study. Descriptive statistics and parametric tests were used to analyze the data.Results: In the study, a statistically significant difference was found in technological device usage and times of children before and during the COVID-19 pandemic period (p<0.05). It was determined that 100% of children had sleep problems clinically. A statistically significant difference was found between the mean scores of students from the CSHQ based on the education and income states of their parents (p<0.05). Additionally, a statistically significant difference was found between the mean CSHQ scores based on the duration of child's daily technological device usage (p<0.05). Conclusion: Longer time spent with technological devices by 5-12 year old children during the COVID-19 pandemic was found to show a negative effect on the sleep habits of the children.