Assessing Smartphone Use in Children Presenting to ED
Research type
Research Study
Full title
Exploring smartphone use in children and young people presenting to the paediatric emergency department.
IRAS ID
366422
Contact name
Alice Downes
Contact email
Sponsor organisation
Leeds Teaching Hospitals Research Governance Manager, Research & Innovation
Duration of Study in the UK
0 years, 4 months, 20 days
Research summary
We are aiming to look at smartphone use in children and young people, and assess the prevalence of ‘problematic’ smartphone use. A secondary outcome measure would be to see if there is any link between increased/problematic use and the reason children and young people have attended the emergency department. We will be using an adapted version of a validated tool (Kwon et al) to assess problematic use of smartphones in children and young people.
We expect the consent process and questionnaire to take approximately 30-45 minutes of the participants time, which will be entirely on a voluntary basis. The data collection will be taking place over approximately 1-3 months until we reach the minimum number of participants. The project will then continue into data analysis and hopefully publication.
The participants confidentiality will be maintained throughout, with no identifiable data being stored. They will be informed of this via the patient information sheet and during the consent process.
This will be entirely voluntary and it will be made clear to participants that they can choose not to take part or withdraw at any time. A unique but anonymised participant number will be generated which will allow us to remove their data up until the point of publication. How to withdraw will be made clear to them via the patient information sheet. This will have no impact on their care. Taking part in the study will also not affect the care they receive and it will not lengthen their stay in the department or delay care.
REC name
South Central - Berkshire Research Ethics Committee
REC reference
26/SC/0119
Date of REC Opinion
14 May 2026
REC opinion
Further Information Favourable Opinion