Daytime television viewing by hospitalized children.

To determine whether hospitalized pediatric patients may be inadvertently exposed to excessive amounts of commercial television, a survey of the quantity and quality of daytime television viewing by patients was conducted at the Winnipeg Children's Centre. Television viewing patterns were recorded for 845 patients, each of whom was observed at half-hour intervals between 9 am and 5 pm. The results indicated that the percentage of children viewing television throughout the day ranged from 21% fo 75% with a mean daily weekday viewing time of 3.9 hours per eight-hour survey day. The data indicate that daytime viewing is substantially higher for hospitalized than nonhospitalized children and includes much programming that is directed toward adults. Hospital television viewing was characterized as indiscriminate and excessive, indicating the need to increase staff awareness of the influence of television and, if possible, provide patients with commercial-free, alternative programming.