U.S. parent perspectives on media guidance from pediatric autism professionals

ABSTRACT

Screen media guidelines for children set by medical organizations (e.g., the American Academy of Pediatrics) play a significant role in public discourse regarding media and parenting. Physician mediation theory, an adaptation of parental mediation theory, suggests that physician-patient discussion about media content (e.g., online searches) directly shapes patient engagement with said content. Little attention has been paid though as to how guidance about children’s media use is delivered to parents by pediatric clinical professionals and its utility from the perspective of diverse families. Interviews and home observations were conducted with families of 26 children ages 3–13 on the autism spectrum. Two main social contexts for media guidance were identified: advising on children’s media use 1) as part of therapy and 2) as recreation. Prior research indicates that physician mediation takes three forms: positive (encouraging media use), negative (discouraging), and redirective (suggesting alternatives). Within the two contexts, positive physician mediation was more prominent in therapeutic than recreational contexts. Poor and working-class families also tended to report media guidance less than upper- and middle-class families, partly due to barriers in accessing clinical care. Implications are discussed for improving physician mediation theory as well as enhancing caregiver-clinician communication about children’s media use.

KEYWORDS:

• Autism
• children
• disability
• doctor-patient communication
• media guidance
• physician mediation

Disclosure Statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author.

Notes

1. The study participants included both parent and non-parent caregivers. For purposes of this paper, “parent” and “caregiver” are used interchangeably throughout.

2. There are mixed opinions outside and within the autism community on language (Brown, 2011). “Autistic person” (identity-first language) is generally preferred by autism self-advocates over “person with autism” (person-first language), which parents and medical professionals tend to favor (Kenny et al., 2016). All groups report largely endorsing “person on the autism spectrum” (Kenny et al., 2016). As there is on-going debate and a lack of universal consensus on the matter, this article uses “autistic person” and “person on the autism spectrum.”

3. All names have been changed to pseudonyms to preserve the anonymity of participants.

4. Language has been transcribed as spoken and uncorrected when parents use grammatically incorrect English.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Meryl Alper

Dr. Meryl Alper is an Assistant Professor of Communication Studies at Northeastern University, where she studies the social and cultural implications of new media technologies with a focus on youth, families, and disability. She is the author of Digital Youth with Disabilities (MIT Press, 2014) and Giving Voice: Mobile Communication, Disability, and Inequality (MIT Press, 2017).