Determination of the relationship between screen exposure and maternal depression in children aged 12-72 months

Nowadays, with the advancement of technology, the screen has become a part of our lives. Children's health is affected by the screen they are exposed to physically, emotionally and psychologically. There may be a relationship between screen use in children and maternal depression. One of the duties of nurses should be to raise awareness of mothers and caregivers about the negative effects of screens. This thesis study; It was conducted as a descriptive study to determine the duration of screen exposure in children between 12-72 months and whether maternal depression has an effect on this situation. It was applied to 329 mothers between the ages of 19-42 from eleven Family Health Centers in Kırşehir city center in the Central Anatolia Region of Turkey. Data of the research; It was collected using a mother introduction form containing questions about the mother, a child introduction form containing questions about the child, and the Beck Depression Scale. While evaluating the data, the Shapiro Wilk Test was used to evaluate whether continuous variables followed a normal distribution; Descriptive statistics of data conforming to normal distribution are given as mean ± standard deviation. Statistical significance level was accepted as p≤0.05. It was determined that 50.5% of the mothers within the scope of the research were between the ages of 25-34, 55.3% were not working, 51.7% of the employees worked in the day shift and 61.4% received help with child care. The frequency of having televisions and smartphones in families' homes is 100%. While 66.0% of mothers control children's screen time, 60.5% control screen content. 100% of mothers with two children stated that after having their second child, the first child's screen time increased. When the depression severity of mothers was determined according to their scores from the Beck Depression Scale; It was observed that 50.5% had moderate depression. When the scale total scores were compared according to the working status of the mothers, working mothers received statistically significantly higher scores than those who were not working. (z=-3.845, p=0.000). Children of mothers with high Beck Depression Inventory score median scores have significantly higher daily screen time. (z= -4.553, p=0.000; z= -2.435, p=0.015, respectively). As a result of the research; Screen exposure time was found to be higher in children of mothers aged 19-42, working, having two children, and with high Beck Depression Inventory scores, compared to other groups.