Project Name
Digital Media Use Screener
Areas of Focus
Problematic Media Use
Duration
3 years (2023-2025)
Collaborators
The Clinic for Interactive Media and Internet Disorders (CIMAID) at Boston Children’s Hospital
Faculty Leads
Additional Colleagues
- Michael Tsappis, MD, CIMAID
- Zhiying (Zoey) Yue, PhD, Digital Wellness Lab
- Nicole Powell, MSW, Digital Wellness Lab
- Kathy Cooney, LICSW, CIMAID
- Emily Izenman, BA, Digital Wellness Lab (former employee)
Disclosure
Funded by Point32Health
Overview
In an effort to support early intervention and care, the aim of the collaboration is to develop a Digital Media Use Screener and intervention guidelines to help clinicians assess the role of digital media in adolescents’ daily lives and identify areas where support or intervention may be beneficial.
Objectives
We are seeking to develop a Digital Media Use Screener that:
- Is validated, culturally-relevant and non-judgmental, which will be designed for use with adolescents (ages 12-17) as part of routine clinical assessments
- Will identify areas where digital media use may be impacting daily functioning and provide clinicians with a structured framework to offer evidence-based guidance
- Will offer a structured, research-informed framework for evaluating how digital media use affects five key areas of basic functioning: Sleep, Family Functioning, Friends/Social Functioning, Interests/Activities and Academics
Will differentiate between typical and problematic digital media use, shift the focus from screen time limits to healthy engagement, reassure parents and caregivers when digital media use is not a cause for concern, and equip young people and their families with evidence-based strategies for digital wellbeing.
Methodology
This study is being conducted in three phases.
- Phase 1: We administered an anonymous 20-minute survey to a diverse sample of adolescents (ages 13-17) across the US to understand their media habits and impacts on daily life
- Phase 2: We are testing a beta version of the screener with 200 adolescents (ages 12-17) at Massachusetts clinics to assess its ability to effectively identify clinically-relevant concerns
- Phase 3: We will test a brief intervention with doctors, patients, and families within clinical settings
Preliminary Findings
Please check back in mid-2025 for more updates.
Publications
Bickham, D.S., Yue, Z., Izenman, E.R, Tsappis, M., Rich, M. (2024) Development and validation of a screener for problematic interactive media use among adolescents [Poster]. Presented at the Annual Meeting of the American Public Health Association, Minneapolis, MN, USA. https://apha.confex.com/apha/2024/meetingapp.cgi/Paper/554073
For more information about this study, please contact dwl@childrens.harvard.edu.
