DIGITAL FOOTPRINT EDUCATION PROGRAM FOR PARENTS

July 10, 2026 updated by: Şeyma Emsal Şen, Akdeniz University

YOUR CHILD'S DIGITAL IDENTITY IS SHAPED BY YOUR FINGERSTIPS: EFFECTIVENESS OF A DIGITAL FOOTPRINT EDUCATION PROGRAM FOR PARENTS

In today's digitalized world, children conduct a significant portion of their learning experiences through online environments. However, a lack of digital awareness among parents can adversely affect both children's privacy and their educational development. To address this issue, this study aims to support children's development within a conscious, safe, and ethical digital learning environment by educating parents on digital footprints, online safety, and responsible sharing. Children, who are not yet capable of constructing their own digital identities, have their virtual personas shaped at an early age by their parents' online behavior. This unmonitored digital exposure can compromise a child's sense of privacy and negatively impact their self-development, self-esteem, and social identity formation. Prioritizing the best interests of the child, this project introduces a parent education program designed to empower families in digital literacy and establish an indirect protective framework throughout the educational process.

Study Overview

Status

Status

Indicates the current recruitment status or the expanded access status.
Completed

Conditions

Conditions

The disease, disorder, syndrome, illness, or injury that is being studied. On ClinicalTrials.gov, conditions may also include other health-related issues, such as lifespan, quality of life, and health risks.

Intervention / Treatment

Intervention / Treatment

A process or action that is the focus of a clinical study. Interventions include drugs, medical devices, procedures, vaccines, and other products that are either investigational or already available. Interventions can also include noninvasive approaches, such as education or modifying diet and exercise.

Detailed Description

Digital footprints represent the permanent traces that individuals leave behind in online environments, either consciously or unconsciously. Today, social media stands out as one of the platforms where these footprints are most intensively generated. As one of the most active user groups on social media, parents frequently share photos, videos, and personal information about their children, directly impacting their privacy, digital safety, and psychosocial development. Furthermore, this behavior creates a negative role model, leading children to adopt unconscious digital habits from their parents. This unmonitored exposure increases the likelihood of children facing risks such as abuse, cyberbullying, and labeling in digital spaces, thereby threatening their psychosocial safety within school and learning environments.At this juncture, enhancing parents' digital awareness is critically important for both ensuring children's online safety and safeguarding their healthy development throughout the educational process. Designed within this framework, this project introduces a parent education program that prioritizes the best interests of the child, empowers families in digital literacy, and serves as an indirect protective shield in the educational process. In this regard, the study closely aligns with children's academic and psychosocial development goals by both contributing to family education and enhancing the safety of educational environments. The "Digital Footprint Education Program," developed within this scope, aims to raise parents' awareness regarding social media and online sharing practices, while enabling them to cultivate attitudes that protect their children's digital identity and privacy.

Study Type

Study Type

Describes the nature of a clinical study. Study types include interventional studies (also called clinical trials), observational studies (including patient registries), and expanded access.
Interventional

Enrollment (Actual)

Enrollment

The number of participants in a clinical study. The "anticipated" enrollment is the target number of participants that the researchers need for the study.
79

Phase

Phase

The stage of a clinical trial studying a drug or biological product, based on definitions developed by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA). The phase is based on the study's objective, the number of participants, and other characteristics. There are five phases: Early Phase 1 (formerly listed as Phase 0), Phase 1, Phase 2, Phase 3, and Phase 4. Not Applicable is used to describe trials without FDA-defined phases, including trials of devices or behavioral interventions.
  • Not Applicable

Contacts and Locations

This section provides the contact details for those conducting the study, and information on where this study is being conducted.

Study Locations

Participation Criteria

Researchers look for people who fit a certain description, called eligibility criteria. Some examples of these criteria are a person's general health condition or prior treatments.

Eligibility Criteria

Eligibility Criteria

The key requirements that people who want to participate in a clinical study must meet or the characteristics they must have. Eligibility criteria consist of both inclusion criteria (which are required for a person to participate in the study) and exclusion criteria (which prevent a person from participating). Types of eligibility criteria include whether a study accepts healthy volunteers, has age or age group requirements, or is limited by sex.

Ages Eligible for Study

  • Adult
  • Older Adult

Accepts Healthy Volunteers

Yes

Description

Inclusion Criteria:

  • Being the parent of a child enrolled in kindergarten,
  • The parent uses social media
  • The parent uses WhatsApp
  • The parent is literate
  • The parent can speak and understand Turkish

Exclusion Criteria:

  • The parent has a diagnosed psychiatric or mental disorder.

Study Plan

This section provides details of the study plan, including how the study is designed and what the study is measuring.

How is the study designed?

Design Details

  • Primary Purpose: Prevention
  • Allocation: Non-Randomized
  • Interventional Model: Single Group Assignment
  • Masking: Double

Arms and Interventions

Participant Group / Arm

Participant Group / Arm

A group or subgroup of participants in a clinical trial that receives a specific intervention/treatment, or no intervention, according to the trial's protocol.
Intervention / Treatment

Intervention / Treatment

A process or action that is the focus of a clinical study. Interventions include drugs, medical devices, procedures, vaccines, and other products that are either investigational or already available. Interventions can also include noninvasive approaches, such as education or modifying diet and exercise.
Active Comparator: Intervention group
The startup group was given training as part of the digital footprint training program.
Behavioral: Digital Footprint Education Program for Parents
A review of the literature reveals a paucity of research focusing on children aged 3-6, with existing scholarship predominantly centered on primary school students and older cohorts. Implemented with the parents of children aged 3-6 within the intervention group, this educational program aims to favorably modulate the digital footprints of this specific age bracket and safeguard their digital identities. In this regard, the intervention diverges significantly from extant literature.
Other Names:
  • DFEP
No Intervention: control group
No action was taken against this group.

What is the study measuring?

Primary Outcome Measures

Primary Outcome Measures

In a clinical study's protocol, the planned outcome measure that is the most important for evaluating the effect of an intervention/treatment. Most clinical studies have one primary outcome measure, but some have more than one.
Outcome Measure
Measure Description
Time Frame
Sharenting scale
Time Frame: Baseline and 15 days after the intervention
The Sharenting Scale is a 17-item instrument designed to assess parental sharenting behaviors. The scale comprises four subscales: sharing behavior, social comparison behavior, positive feedback effect, and negative feedback effect. Items are rated on a 5-point Likert scale, and the items in the social comparison behavior and negative feedback effect subscales are reverse scored. Total scores range from 17 to 85, with higher scores indicating greater levels of sharenting behaviors.
Baseline and 15 days after the intervention

Secondary Outcome Measures

Secondary Outcome Measures

In a clinical study's protocol, a planned outcome measure that is not as important as the primary outcome measure for evaluating the effect of an intervention but is still of interest. Most clinical studies have more than one secondary outcome measure.
Outcome Measure
Measure Description
Time Frame
Social Media Addiction Scale
Time Frame: Baseline and 15 days after the intervention
The Social Media Addiction Scale is a 13-item instrument designed to assess the level of social media addiction in adults. The scale includes three subscales: functional impairment, preference for virtual life, and virtual pleasure. Each item is rated on a 5-point Likert scale ranging from 1 (strongly disagree) to 5 (strongly agree). Total scores range from 13 to 65, with higher scores indicating greater levels of social media addiction.
Baseline and 15 days after the intervention
Brief Self-Control Scale
Time Frame: Baseline and 15 days after the intervention
The Brief Self-Control Scale is a 13-item self-report instrument designed to assess self-control. The scale consists of two subscales: self-discipline and impulsivity. Items are rated on a 5-point Likert scale ranging from 1 (not at all like me) to 5 (very much like me). Nine items are reverse scored. Total scores range from 13 to 65, with higher scores indicating greater levels of self-control.
Baseline and 15 days after the intervention

Collaborators and Investigators

This is where you will find people and organizations involved with this study.

Sponsor

Sponsor

The organization or person who initiates the study and who has authority and control over the study.
Akdeniz University

Publications and helpful links

The person responsible for entering information about the study voluntarily provides these publications. These may be about anything related to the study.

General Publications

Study record dates

These dates track the progress of study record and summary results submissions to ClinicalTrials.gov. Study records and reported results are reviewed by the National Library of Medicine (NLM) to make sure they meet specific quality control standards before being posted on the public website.

Study Major Dates

Study Start (Actual)

Study Start

The actual date on which the first participant was enrolled in a clinical study. The "anticipated" study start date is the date that the researchers think will be the study start date.
March 15, 2026

Primary Completion (Actual)

Primary Completion

The date on which the last participant in a clinical study was examined or received an intervention to collect final data for the primary outcome measure. Whether the clinical study ended according to the protocol or was terminated does not affect this date. For clinical studies with more than one primary outcome measure with different completion dates, this term refers to the date on which data collection is completed for all the primary outcome measures. The "anticipated" primary completion date is the date that the researchers think will be the primary completion date for the study.
April 15, 2026

Study Completion (Actual)

Study Completion

The date on which the last participant in a clinical study was examined or received an intervention/treatment to collect final data for the primary outcome measures, secondary outcome measures, and adverse events (that is, the last participant's last visit). The "anticipated" study completion date is the date that the researchers think will be the study completion date.
May 15, 2026

Study Registration Dates

First Submitted

First Submitted

The date on which the study sponsor or investigator first submitted a study record to ClinicalTrials.gov. There is typically a delay of a few days between the first submitted date and the record's availability on ClinicalTrials.gov (the first posted date).
July 6, 2026

First Submitted That Met QC Criteria

First Submitted That Met QC Criteria

The date on which the study sponsor or investigator first submits a study record that is consistent with National Library of Medicine (NLM) quality control (QC) review criteria. The sponsor or investigator may need to revise and submit a study record one or more times before NLM's QC review criteria are met. It is the responsibility of the sponsor or investigator to ensure that the study record is consistent with the NLM QC review criteria.
July 10, 2026

First Posted (Actual)

First Posted

The date on which the study record was first available on ClinicalTrials.gov after National Library of Medicine (NLM) quality control (QC) review has concluded. There is typically a delay of a few days between the date the study sponsor or investigator submitted the study record and the first posted date.
July 16, 2026

Study Record Updates

Last Update Posted (Actual)

Last Update Posted

The most recent date on which changes to a study record were made available on ClinicalTrials.gov. There may be a delay between when the changes were submitted to ClinicalTrials.gov by the study's sponsor or investigator (the last update submitted date) and the last update posted date.
July 16, 2026

Last Update Submitted That Met QC Criteria

Last Update Submitted That Met QC Criteria

The most recent date on which the study sponsor or investigator submitted changes to a study record that are consistent with National Library of Medicine (NLM) quality control (QC) review criteria. It is the responsibility of the sponsor or investigator to ensure that the study record is consistent with the NLM QC review criteria.
July 10, 2026

Last Verified

Last Verified

The most recent date on which the study sponsor or investigator confirmed the information about a clinical study on ClinicalTrials.gov as accurate and current. If a study with a recruitment status of recruiting; not yet recruiting; or active, not recruiting has not been confirmed within the past 2 years, the study's recruitment status is shown as unknown.
July 1, 2026

More Information

Terms related to this study

Keywords

Other Study ID Numbers

Other Study ID Numbers

Identifiers or ID numbers other than the NCT number that are assigned to a clinical study by the study's sponsor, funders, or others. These numbers may include unique identifiers from other trial registries and National Institutes of Health grant numbers.
  • sesen

Plan for Individual participant data (IPD)

Plan to Share Individual Participant Data (IPD)?

NO

Drug and device information, study documents

Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated drug product

No

Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated device product

No

This information was retrieved directly from the website clinicaltrials.gov without any changes. If you have any requests to change, remove or update your study details, please contact register@clinicaltrials.gov. As soon as a change is implemented on clinicaltrials.gov, this will be updated automatically on our website as well.

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