Construction of an Instrument for the Evaluation of the Effects of Information and Communication Technologies among Young People

Ignacio González López, Belén Quintero Ordóñez, Garikoitz Mendigutxia-Sorabilla, Eloísa Reche Urbano and Juan Antonio Fuentes Esparrell
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Ignacio González López: Department of Education, University of Córdoba, 14071 Córdoba, Spain
Belén Quintero Ordóñez: Department of Education, University of Córdoba, 14071 Córdoba, Spain
Garikoitz Mendigutxia-Sorabilla: National Prevention Committee, Proyecto Hombre Association, 28027 Madrid, Spain
Eloísa Reche Urbano: Department of Artistic and Body Education, University of Córdoba, 14071 Córdoba, Spain
Juan Antonio Fuentes Esparrell: Department of Didactic and School Organization, University of Granada, 18071 Granada, Spain

Sustainability, 2020, vol. 12, issue 9, 1-21

Abstract: The aim of this paper is to investigate the issue of access to Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) at younger ages, which is leading to dependency on mobile phones, video games, and compulsive aimless internet surfing—an issue that schools have been increasingly seeking to tackle. With the appearance of emerging technologies, and not forgetting those already established, an instrument is required that will adapt to new casuistry and help to design intervention programmes in accordance with present and future patterns of use, abuse, and addiction. Studies such as the one proposed here will provide data about the profile of this population in order to improve programmes and influence the ICT policies rolled out by central and local governments. The chief aim of this paper is to construct and validate an instrument capable of evaluating problems experienced by young people in relation to technology use, abuse, and addiction within the programmes developed in Spain. The research design used in this study is mixed empirical, non-experimental, and sequential in nature in three stages: interviews conducted with 11 prevention professionals, group of 11 experts and pilot group of 30 participants in indicated prevention programmes. The findings of the study indicate that the instrument fulfills the parameters established to be considered a systematic empirically sustainable instrument, since the young population needs to identify these patterns in order to understand and prevent risk behaviours associated with their use.

Keywords: techno-addiction; indicated prevention; evaluation; young people (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: O13 Q Q0 Q2 Q3 Q5 Q56 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2020
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:12:y:2020:i:9:p:3785-:d:354726

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