Introduction: Excessive screen use among young children is associated with adverse health and developmental outcomes. In primary care and family medicine, parents are key agents for prevention through anticipatory guidance and behaviour counselling; however, the lack of standardised instruments to assess parental KAP on children’s screen habits limits consistent screening, counselling, and evaluation of preventive programmes.

Methods: A scoping review was conducted using the Arksey & O’Malley framework and reported in accordance with PRISMA-ScR. We searched Web of Science, Scopus, and PubMed for 2019–2025 publications. Eligible studies described, validated, or applied questionnaires/scales assessing parental knowledge, attitudes, and practices regarding children’s screen use. Data were extracted to map instrument domains, response formats, psychometric properties, and cultural applications.

Results: Among 752 screened records, four studies met inclusion criteria (Moldova, Brunei Darussalam, Saudi Arabia, Egypt). All tools assessed parental KAP for predominantly preschool/early school-age children, but demonstrated marked heterogeneity. Knowledge domains focused on health harms and guideline awareness, with limited coverage of digital safety. Attitude measures were variably defined; only two instruments clearly applied theory-informed subdomains (e.g., susceptibility, barriers, benefits), while perceived severity was largely absent. Practice assessment ranged from minimal items to extensive questionnaires (>50 items), with mixed response formats (dichotomous, MCQ, Likert), complicating comparison across settings. Only two instruments reported psychometric validation with good internal consistency (Cronbach’s α≈0.89; subscales α=0.884–0.894).

Conclusion: Current instruments offer partial coverage and limited validation, constraining primary care implementation (screening, counselling, and outcome monitoring). Developing a standardised, culturally adaptable, validated parental KAP tool would strengthen family medicine–led prevention and support evaluation of child digital behaviour interventions across community and clinic contexts.

Siti Farhana Mohamad Yusof is a Doctor of Public Health (DrPH) candidate at the Faculty of Medicine, Universiti Teknologi MARA (UiTM), Sungai Buloh Campus, Malaysia. She completed her Master of Public Health (MPH) in 2025. Her research focuses on digital parenting, children’s screen time behaviour, and the development and validation of psychometric instruments to assess parents’ knowledge, attitudes, and practices in managing children’s screen use. She is currently leading a study on the development and validation of the Parents’ Knowledge, Attitude, and Practice on Children’s Screen Time Questionnaire (PP-CST) in Malaysia, employing exploratory and confirmatory factor analyses. Her research interests include digital health, behavioural change interventions, child health promotion, and family-based public health strategies aimed at supporting healthy screen habits among children.