The COVID-19 outbreak and related restrictions meant a higher incidence of screen-related risk behaviors in both children and adolescents. Our goal was to assess the perceived importance and extent of school-based preventions related to these risks during the long-term, nation-wide distant schooling period in the Czech Republic. The online survey was responded to by the school-based prevention specialists (N = 1698). For the analysis, within-subject analysis of variance (ANOVA) and binominal logistic regression were used. At-risk internet use and cyber-bullying were perceived as pressing, but other risks, for example, excessive internet use or the use of cyberpornography, received substantially less priority. The differences in all grades were significant and moderate to large (η2G between 0.156 and 0.288). The proportion of schools which conducted prevention interventions of screen-related risks was low (between 0.7% and 27.8%, depending on the grade and the type of the risk). The probability of delivering prevention intervention was in all grades significantly predicted by the presence of screen-related problems in pupils (OR 3.76-4.88) and the perceived importance of the screen-related risks (OR 1.55-1.97). The limited capacity of schools to deliver prevention interventions during distant schooling as well as the low awareness and impaired ability to recognize the importance of some screen-related risks should be addressed.

Department of Addictology 1st Faculty of Medicine Charles University 12000 Prague Czech Republic

Department of Addictology General University Hospital Prague 12000 Prague Czech Republic

Department of Cybernetics Czech Technical University Prague 16627 Prague Czech Republic

Department of Psychology Faculty of Arts Charles University 11638 Prague Czech Republic

Department of Psychology Faculty of Education Charles University 11000 Prague Czech Republic

Institute of Information Studies and Librarianship Faculty of Arts Charles University 11638 Prague Czech Republic

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