Parental Views about Complications of Computer Game in School Age Girls

computer games have inevitably devoted a significant portion of children and adolescent''s socialization. This study has been conducted with the aim of examining views of parents about the long-term effects of computer games on primary school girls.
Material & It was a descriptive cross-sectional study. The sample consisted of 150 mothers of school girls studying in first to sixth grade who were recruited by convenience sampling in 2013. Data was collected by a researcher-made questionnaire and analyzed by descriptive statistics and Chi-square test using SPSS-PC (v. 16).
The complications of long term use of computer game from mothers’ views was reported as reduction of social interaction and physical activity (%77.3)¡ burning eyes and Poor eyesight (%76.7)¡ dropout (%72.7)¡ aggression (%62)¡ obesity (%54)¡ and musculoskeletal problems (%36.7) respectively. In addition %59.3 of mothers reported that all family members use computer in their homes. The most important factor of long term use of computer from mothers’ view was no restriction to use computer games in their home (%68.7).
Regarding the findings¡ in order to protect and promote children’s health it is recommended that training courses will be initiated for children¡ parents and teachers in line with changing their viewpoints and supervision of the type and conditions of computer games¡ child nutrition and maintaining children’s ergonomic body condition while playing the games.