Fifth-grade pupils’ sleep and electronic media use: views of Finnish and Russian children, parents, and classroom teachers in AHIC project

Author(s):

Hanna Miettinen(presenting / submitting)Marjorita Sormunen Valentina Kirilina Svetlana Goranskaya Kerttu Tossavainen

Conference:

ECER 2015

Network:

08. Research on Health Education

Format:

Paper

Session Information

08 SES 05 B, Stakeholders Views on Health Education in Schools

Paper Session

Time:

2015-09-09

11:00-12:30

Room:

107.Oktatóterem [C]

Chair:

Marjorita Sormunen

Contribution

Research questions

The research questions are:

1. How do the parents and teachers view their responsibilities in areas of 10-11-year-old children’s sleep and electronic media use in the Republic of Karelia and North Karelia?

2. Is there a difference in children’s bedtimes during weekdays and weekends

a. reported by Finnish and Russian 10-11 year old school-aged children?

b. reported by Finnish and Russian 10-11 year old school-aged children’s parents?

Theoretical framework

Children’s incremental electronic media use together with reduced or disturbed sleep has been recognized to effect negatively on children’s healthy growth (Cassof et al. 2014). Previous research indicate that media use higher than 1-2 hours per day exposes children to bedtime resistance, short sleep duration and anxiety around sleep (El-Sheikh et al. 2012). Lack of sleep, in turn, is related to poor concentration, irritability, and restlessness at school (Molfese et al. 2013). In the long-term, problems with sleep have been associated with increased risk of psychological functioning problems and risks in physical health, including obesity, diabetes, and cardiovascular problems (Brand & Kirov, 2011).

Although previously regarded as a health problem of high-income countries, the use of electronic media among children has grown to a wider problem globally. (Trembley et al. 2011, Garmy et al. 2013). Sedentary behaviour, which often includes electronic media use, increases children’s physical inactivity (Iannotti et al. 2010). In addition, it is also related to other unhealthy habits, as snacking high calory food (Tremblay 2011). These negative habits may have an impact on children’s health in long-term (Garmy et al. 2013).

Parental guidance is essential and has a significant meaning to school-aged children’s media use together with bedtime monitoring (Gentile et al. 2014). Parental media monitoring includes understanding the media, talking about the diversity of media and its content with children and also making rules for using it (Cain & Gradisar 2010). In terms of sufficient and good-quality sleep, children need parental help and guidance in good sleep regiments (El-Sheikh et al. 2012).

Alongside homes, schools are in a central position in guiding and educating children towards good health behaviours. When children are educated about health issues, the idea of shared responsibility between home and school is essential (Tveit 2009; Sormunen et al. 2011). Shared responsibility is relevant because parents and teachers are the most important adults in influencing the state of children’s health (Patino-Fernandez et al. 2012).

The aim of the study is to examine the opinions of parents and teachers about the responsibilities related to areas of children’s sleep and electronic media, and the actual bedtimes of children.

Method

Setting and participants Children (N= 119), their parents (N= 214) and classroom teachers (N=69) from two Finnish schools in North Karelia and two Russian schools in the Republic of Karelia participated in the study. The schools were selected by purposive sampling. Instrument The questionnaires from previous Finnish school health intervention were modified and used in this study. Questionnaires went through a translation process, during which both Finnish and Russian culturally specific issues were given careful attention. The questionnaires were first translated from Finnish to Russian and then back to Finnish to ensure that the content and forms of the questions were the same. An international research group also went through the questions individually. The questionnaires were piloted in both countries. The children’s questionnaires were structured for three main themes: 1) health learning at home and at school, 2) health worries, and 3) television and sleep. The parents and teachers’ questionnaires were structured for four main themes: 1) home–school collaboration, 2) health learning and guidance, and health collaboration, 3) health worries, and 4) health guidance tasks between home and school. Additionally, parents’ questionnaire contained questions about their children’s sleep and media habits. The questions concerning children’s sleep and responsibilities of home and school in areas of sleep and electronic media were used in this analysis. The responsibility areas were asked from parents and teachers by 18 items with a continuous scale from “task of school - task of home”. The bedtimes of children were asked from children themselves by two alternative ways. There was a clock drawn where children could indicate their exact bedtimes and a space where they could write down their exact bedtime. Parents had a possibility to write their answer in at a free space. Data analysis The continuous scale “task of school – task of home” was measured by a ruler, and results presented in centimeters with one decimal place. The questions about bedtimes were recorded to SPSS as 21:00 or earlier, 21:01–22:00, 22:01–23:00, and later than 23:00. One-way analysis of variance was applied to explore the difference between countries and between the respondent groups (parents, teachers) for responsibility areas. Pearson’s chi-square test was used to explore the differences between children- and parent- reported bedtimes. An independent-samples t-test was conducted to compare the parents’ responses of their children’s bedtimes on weekdays and weekends. A probability of 0.05 was set as the threshold for statistical significance.

Expected Outcomes

Fifty children in Finland and 69 children in Russia, 60 parents in Finland and 154 parents in Russia, and 18 teachers from Finland and 51 teachers from Russia took part to surveys. In health education content areas, 86% Finnish parents and 64% Russian parents viewed sufficient sleep and rest as home’s responsibility (p<.001). Also 67% of teachers in Finland and 55% of teachers in Russia viewed similarly. Safe and proper media use was viewed as a mutual responsibility of home and school by 61% of parents in Russia. About half (55%) of Finnish parents indicated it as a responsibility of home (p<.01). 61% of teachers in Finland and 54% of teachers in Russia viewed it as a mutual responsibility. According to 50% of children, the most popular bedtime on weekdays was between 21:01 and 22:00. Finnish children went to bed earlier than their Russian counterparts did (p = .000). On weekends, the most popular bedtime was between 22:01 and 23:00, although nearly as many children went to bed after 23:00. According to parents’, most of the children went to bed between 21:01 and 22:00 on weekdays and 22:01 and 23:00 on weekends. However, parents’ responses revealed that there was variation in children’s bedtimes between countries. On weekdays, 97% of Finnish parents reported that their children went to bed at 22:00 or before compared to 61% of Russian parents (p = .000). On weekends, 39% of Finnish parents reported that their children went to bed at 22:01 or later compared to 80% of Russian parents (p = .000). Inside the countries, the views of Russian parents and their children were closer to each other than Finnish parents and their children.

References

Brand S, & Kirov R. (2011). Sleep and its importance in adolescence and in common adolescent somatic and psychiatric conditions. International Journal of General Medicine, 4, 425–442. Cain N, & Gradisar M. (2010). Electronic media use and sleep in school-aged children and adolescents: A review, Sleep Medicine, 11(10), 735-742. Cassof J, Bhatti J. A, & Gruber R. (2014). The effect of sleep restriction on neurobehavioural functioning in normally developing children and adolescents: Insights from the attention behaviour and sleep laboratory. Pathologie Biologie, 62(4), 123-128. El-Sheikh M, Kelly R. J, Bagley E. J, Wetter E. K. (2012). Parental depressive symptoms and children’s sleep: the role of family conflict. Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry 53(7), 806-814. Garmy P, Clausson E. K, Nyberg P, & Jakobsson U. (2013). Overweight and television and computer habits in Swedish school-age children and adolescents: A cross-sectional study. Nursing and Health Sciences, 16, 143-148. Gentile D. A, Reimer R. A., Nathanson A. I, Walsh D. A, & Eisenmann J. C.( 2014). Protective effects of parental monitoring of children’s media use. The Journal of the American Medical Association, 146, e1-e6. Iannotti R. J, Janssen I., Haug E, Kololo H, Annaheim B, & Borracino, A.( 2010). Interrelationships of adolescent physical activity, screen-based sedentary behaviour, and social and psychological health. International Journal of Public Health, 54(2), 191-198. Molfese D. L, Ivanenko A, Key A. F. Roman A, Molfese V. J, O’Brien L. M., Gozal D, Kota S., & Hudac, C. M.(2013). A One-hour sleep restriction impacts brain processing in young children across tasks: evidence from event-related potentials. Development Neuropsychology, 38(5), 317-336. Patino-Fernandez A. M, Hernandez J, Villa M, Delamater A. (2012). School-based health promotion intervention: parent and school staff perspectives. Journal of School Health, 83(11), 763-770. Sormunen M, Tossavainen K, & Turunen H.(2011). Home-school collaboration in the view of fourth grade pupils, parents, teachers and principals in the Finnish education system. The School Community Journal, 21(.2), 185-211. Tremblay M. S, LeBlanc A. G, Kho M. E, Saunders T. J, Larouch R, & Colley R. C.(2011). Systematic review of sedentary behavior and health indicators in school-aged children and youth. International Journal of Behavioiral Nutrition and Physical Activity, 8(98), 1-22. Tveit A. D. (2009) A parental voice: parents as equal and dependent – rhetoric about parents, teachers, and their conversations. Educational Review, 61, 289–300.

Author Information

Hanna Miettinen (presenting / submitting)

University of Eastern Finland

Nursing Science

Kuopio

Marjorita Sormunen

University of Eastern Finland, Finland

Valentina Kirilina

Petrozavodsk State University, Republic of Karelia, Russia

Svetlana Goranskaya

Petrozavodsk State University, Republic of Karelia, Russia

Kerttu Tossavainen