TY  - JOUR
AU  - Reesor-Oyer, Layton
AU  - Parker, Hannah
AU  - Burkart, Sarah
AU  - Smith, Michal T
AU  - Dugger, Roddrick
AU  - von Klinggraeff, Lauren
AU  - Weaver, R Glenn
AU  - Beets, Michael  W
AU  - Armstrong, Bridget
PY  - 2022
DA  - 2022/9/28
TI  - Measuring Microtemporal Processes Underlying Preschoolers’ Screen Use and Behavioral Health: Protocol for the Tots and Tech Study
JO  - JMIR Res Protoc
SP  - e36240
VL  - 11
IS  - 9
KW  - ecological momentary assessment
KW  - accelerometery
KW  - objective screen time monitoring
KW  - mobile phone
AB  - Background: Excessive screen time is associated with poor health and behavioral outcomes in children. However, research on screen time use has been hindered by methodological limitations, including retrospective reports of usual screen time and lack of momentary etiologic processes occurring within each day. Objective: This study is designed to assess the feasibility and utility of a comprehensive multibehavior protocol to measure the digital media use and screen time context among a racially and economically diverse sample of preschoolers and their families. This paper describes the recruitment, data collection, and analytical protocols for the Tots and Tech study. Methods: The Tots and Tech study is a longitudinal, observational study of 100 dyads: caregivers and their preschool-age children (aged 3-5 years). Both caregivers and children will wear an Axivity AX3 accelerometer (Axivity Ltd) for 30 days to assess their physical activity, sedentary behavior, and sleep. Caregivers will complete ecological momentary assessments (EMAs) for 1 week to measure child behavioral problems, caregiver stress, and child screen time. Results: The Tots and Tech study was funded in March 2020. This study maintains rolling recruitment, with each dyad on their own assessment schedule, depending on the time of enrollment. Enrollment was scheduled to take place between September 2020 and May 2022. We aim to enroll 100 caregiver-child dyads. The Tots and Tech outcome paper is expected to be published in 2022. Conclusions: The Tots and Tech study attempts to overcome previous methodological limitations by using objective measures of screen time, physical activity, sedentary behavior, and sleep behaviors with contextual factors measured by EMA. The results will be used to evaluate the feasibility and utility of a comprehensive multibehavior protocol using objective measures of mobile screen time and accelerometry in conjunction with EMA among caregiver-child dyads. Future observational and intervention studies will be able to use this study protocol to better measure screen time and its context. International Registered Report Identifier (IRRID): DERR1-10.2196/36240 
SN  - 1929-0748
UR  - https://www.researchprotocols.org/2022/9/e36240
UR  - https://doi.org/10.2196/36240
UR  - http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/36169993
DO  - 10.2196/36240
ID  - info:doi/10.2196/36240
ER  -