Parents’ and Preschool Educators’ Perspectives on Digital Devices in Early Childhood. Preliminary Findings from the Research Project PRIN “Di.Co.Each”

This article presents some preliminary findings from the Italian research project PRIN “Di.Co.Each.” It reports on the qualitative analysis of a corpus of 23 focus groups collected to explore the perspectives, beliefs, and experiences of significant adults regarding the relationship between digital devices (DDs) and early childhood (0–6 years). The study involved 87 parents, 116 preschool educators working in the 0–6 Italian integrated education systems, and 36 pediatricians, recruited via convenience sampling. The data were analyzed using thematic analysis with a predominantly inductive approach. Focusing on children’s uses and adults’ needs as voiced by the parents and the 0–6 educational staff, results shed light on the relevance of training caregivers in conscious, critical, and creative uses for fostering awareness of both opportunities and limitations set up by children’s use of DDs in the domestic and formal education environments.