The effect of digital parent awareness psychoeducation program on parents' digital awareness

The aim of this study is to examine the effect of a digital parental awareness psychoeducation program on parents' digital awareness. A quasi-experimental design with a pre-test, post-test control group was used in the study. The universe of the study consisted of mothers and fathers with children between the ages of 6-10 in a primary school in the Central District of Burdur Province in the 2023-2024 Academic Year. The independent variable of the study was "Digital Parental Awareness Psychoeducation Program" and the dependent variable was the level of digital awareness. The sample of the study consisted of 30 parents (26 mothers and 4 fathers), 15 in the experimental group and 15 in the control group. The data in the study were obtained with the personal information form and the digital parenting awareness scale. The digital parenting awareness scale consisting of 16 items and 4 sub-dimensions and the personal information form developed by Manap and Durmuş (2020) were applied to both the experimental and control group parents as a pre-test after their consents were obtained at the beginning of the study. After the pre-test, a psychoeducation program developed by the researcher for 8 sessions, each lasting 90 minutes, was applied to the experimental group. No application was made to the control group until the end of the experimental process. A post-test was applied to the experimental and control groups two weeks after the end of the psychoeducation, and a follow-up test was applied to the experimental group 6 weeks later. As a result of the research, it was found that there was a significant difference in the pre-test and post-test scores of the mothers and fathers in the experimental group from the Digital Parenting Awareness Scale. It was determined that the Digital Parenting Psychoeducation Program increased the level of parents' efficient use and protection from risks, reduced the levels of negative modeling and digital neglect, and the effect was maintained after 6 weeks. The findings obtained within the scope of the research were discussed within the scope of the literature and suggestions were presented for mental health professionals and researchers.