Objective: To review and summarize the discussions and events during a pre-conference organized by the Children, Adolescents, & the Media (CAM) interest group of the International Communication Association (ICA) and the Center on Media and Child Health (CMCH) at Children’s Hospital Boston. Design: Review and commentary. Revicontinued

Objective: To review and summarize the discussions and events during a pre-conference organized by the Children, Adolescents, & the Media (CAM) interest group of the International Communication Association (ICA) and the Center on Media and Child Health (CMCH) at Children’s Hospital Boston.

Design: Review and commentary.

Review: On May 26, 2011, CAM and CMCH organized a pre-conference session addressing the following four questions: 1) What urgent issues about media and child health need to be addressed?; 2) What are the most appropriate and efficient methods for measuring these issues?; 3) How do we translate our research findings into practical, usable recommendations?; and 4) What are the next steps for accomplishing these goals?

Several presentations were given addressing these questions, touching on a number of areas within the arena of children’s media and health. Such areas included early childhood screen exposure and cognitive development, school-aged children’s attention and academic function and how they may be related to screen time, and how screen time can affect health outcomes in middle childhood and early adolescence. Presenters and attendees considered several methods in measuring these outcomes, both qualitatively and quantitatively. Effective ways of disseminating research findings were also discussed, with the acknowledgement that children’s media industry creators and executives, health professionals, policy makers, as well as parents and families, all need to understand these findings and apply them in their own environments.

Results: The discourse among researchers, clinicians, educators, and producers led to recognition of the importance of considering other perspectives, of learning from established evidence and across disciplines, and of applying methodologies that are rigorous and responsive to how media are actually used. © Center on Media and Child Healthreturn