Clinical Pediatrics

Aim: The aim of this project was to design, develop and test an M-Health App for the new parents in the early postpartum period.

 

Methodology: The randomized controlled trial, two-group, pre-test and post-test design was used. The study had two phases. The phase-I of the study examined parental needs and development of the Mobile-Health App according to their needs. The Phase-II of the study tested the intervention among 250 parents. The parents were randomly assigned to the intervention (n=126) or control (n=124) groups. The intervention group received the mobile-health application based educational programme on top of routine care while the control group received routine care only. For Phase-II the parental self-efficacy, social support, postnatal depression, and parenting satisfaction were measured using reliable and valid instruments. A linear mixed-method analysis was used to compare the percentage change of all outcome variables from the baseline to four weeks postpartum between groups. At the end of four weeks, 17 parents who used the App were interviewed which was audiorecorded to collect their views especially related to the strengths, weaknesses and areas of improvements of the App. Data were analysed using SPSS software and thematic analysis.

 

Results: The intervention group had significant improvements of parental self-efficacy, social support, and parenting satisfaction at four weeks postpartum when compared with the control group. Postnatal depression scores did not show a significant improvement when compared to the control group.

 

Conclusions: The mobile-health application was effective in improving parental self-efficacy, social support, and parenting  satisfaction, and hence, should be introduced and carried out in routine care by nurses. Further studies should focus on evaluating the effects of this programme in reducing postnatal depression among parents.