Parents' awareness of the conscious use of applications on smart devices: A scale development study

Abstract Children inevitably start using smart devices from the first year of their lives. Parents should have knowledge and awareness of the conscious use of applications on smart devices. For this reason, a scale to measure parents’ knowledge and awareness of the conscious use of applications on smart devices has become necessary. Due to this necessity, we want to conduct this study. The research’s problem was how parents’ knowledge and awareness of the conscious use of applications on smart devices could be measured using a valid and reliable scale. We conducted the research in an exploratory sequential design with two stages one of the mixed methods research. We collected and analyzed qualitative data from 33 parents in the first stage, and we collected quantitative data from 602 parents and performed a quantitative analysis to evaluate the first stage’s results in the second stage. After reviewing the literature, we concluded that the scale’s dimensions as a theoretical model were (1) application, (2) benefit, (3) restriction, and (4) worry. We decided on the scale’s items according to the theoretical model after analyzing the parents’ opinions and obtaining experts’ evaluations for the content validity of the scale items. We demonstrated that the theoretical model was supported by the analyses we performed using the data we collected. We learned how a valid and reliable scale could be used to measure the parents’ knowledge and awareness of the conscious use of applications on smart devices, including current and future computer systems. The scale we developed had more specific dimensions compared to the scales in the literature about digital parenting.