Exploring the Needs and Expectations of Expectant and New Parents for an mHealth Application to Support the First 1000 Days of Life: Steps toward a Co-Design Approach
Abstract
:1. Introduction
2. Materials and Methods
2.1. Data Collection
2.2. Data Analysis
3. Results
4. Discussion
5. Conclusions
Supplementary Materials
Author Contributions
Funding
Institutional Review Board Statement
Informed Consent Statement
Data Availability Statement
Acknowledgments
Conflicts of Interest
References
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Variable | Participant | ||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Expectant and New Mother (N = 94) | Expectant and New Father (N = 69) | ||||
Mother | Partner | Father | Pregnant Partner | ||
Age (years); Mean ± SD | 33.2 ± 10.4 | 35.7 ± 5.3 | 36.1 ± 8.5 | 32.8 ± 4.5 | |
n (%) | n (%) | n (%) | n (%) | ||
Place of residence | Trieste—city center | 53 (56%) | / | 36 (52%) | / |
Trieste—suburbs | 29 (31%) | / | 23 (33%) | / | |
Other | 10 (11%) | / | 8 (12%) | / | |
(missing) | 2 | / | 2 | / | |
Country of origin | Italy | 74 (79%) | 77 (82%) | 63 (91%) | 65 (94%) |
Other | 20 (21%) | 17 (18%) | 6 (9%) | 0 | |
(missing) | 0 | 0 | 0 | 4 | |
Mother tongue | Italian | 75 (80%) | 76 (81%) | 64 (93%) | 66 (96%) |
Other | 19 (20%) | 18 (19%) | 5 (7%) | 0 | |
(missing) | / | / | / | 3 | |
Level of education | Primary school | 0 | 1 (1%) | 0 | 0 |
Lower secondary school | 5 (5%) | 9 (10%) | 5 (7%) | 3 (4%) | |
Upper secondary school | 35 (37%) | 49 (52%) | 36 (52%) | 29 (42%) | |
University | 45 (48%) | 27 (29%) | 22 (32%) | 32 (46%) | |
Post-university | 9 (10%) | 8 (9%) | 6 (9%) | 5 (7%) | |
Working condition | Manager, Businesswoman/businessman | 7 (7%) | 6 (6%) | 5 (7%) | 4 (6%) |
Freelance professional | 5 (5%) | 12 (13%) | 10 (14%) | 4 (6%) | |
Employed | 51 (54%) | 44 (47%) | 32 (46%) | 42 61%) | |
Worker | 8 (9%) | 29 (31%) | 22 (32%) | 8 (12%) | |
Housewife/housemaker | 11 (12%) | 0 | 0 | 4 (6%) | |
Unemployed | 10 (11%) | 1 (1%) | 0 | 7 (10%) | |
Other non-specified | 2 (2%) | 1 (1%) | 0 | 0 | |
(missing) | / | 1 | / | / | |
Working hours (only for working participants) | Full-time | 50 (68%) | 90 (96%) | 69 (100%) | 47 (81%) |
Part-time | 23 (32%) | 2 (2%) | 0 | 11 (19%) | |
(missing) | 0 | 1 | / | 0 | |
Healthcare professional | Yes | 19 (20%) | / | 4 (6%) | / |
Pregnancy | Singleton | 89 (95%) | / | 67 (97%) | / |
Multiple—twins | 3 (3%) | / | 1 (1%) | / | |
(missing) | 2 | / | 1 | / | |
Type of conception | Planned | 26 (28%) | / | 35 (51%) | / |
Unplanned | 62 (66%) | / | 31 (45%) | / | |
Assisted reproduction | 5 (5%) | / | 3 (4%) | / | |
(missing) | 1 | / | 0 | / | |
Professional caregiver assisting the current pregnancy | Midwife (public service) | 26 (28%) | / | 19 (28%) | / |
Private gynecologist | 50 (53%) | / | 42 (61%) | / | |
Other | 18 (19%) | / | 8 (12%) | / | |
Other children | None | 49 (52%) | / | 45 (65%) | / |
One | 30 (32%) | / | 17 (25%) | / | |
Two | 11 (12%) | / | 7 (10%) | / | |
Three or more | 4 (4%) | / | 0 | / | |
Marital status | Married or with a partner | 93 (99%) | / | 68 (99%) | / |
(missing) | 1 | / | 1 | / | |
Family income | Upper | 3 (3%) | / | 5 (7%) | / |
Middle | 63 (67%) | / | 51 (74%) | / | |
Sufficient | 23 (24%) | / | 12 (17%) | / | |
Insufficient | 1 (1%) | / | 0 | / | |
(The respondent preferred not to answer) | 4 (%) | / | 1 (1%) | / | |
Biological father of the coming baby as current partner (only for mothers) | Yes | 92 (98%) | / | / | / |
Variable | Expectant and New Mothers (N = 94) | Expectant and New Fathers (N = 69) |
---|---|---|
Most used information sources *; n (%) | ||
Community of practice (e.g., peer groups, training groups) | 48 (51%) | 42 (61%) |
Live communities (e.g., blogs, forums, online platforms, websites) | 38 (40%) | 20 (29%) |
Certified information (e.g., guidelines, service charts) | 36 (38%) | 27 (39%) |
Social media (e.g., Facebook, Twitter) | 31 (33%) | 15 (22%) |
Digital communication tools (e.g., WhatsApp) | 8 (9%) | 3 (4%) |
Expected improvements from the use of a dedicated mHealth app *; n (%) | ||
Increased preparation of pregnant women/new mothers | 61 (65%) | 45 (65%) |
Improved communication between expectant/new parents and health professionals | 51 (54%) | 40 (58%) |
Reducing the amount of time spent providing information by health professionals | 45 (48%) | 35 (51%) |
Use of a common code | 9 (10%) | 6 (9%) |
Cluster (High, Medium, Low Demanding) | Domain Mean Score | |||||||||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Pregnancy Care and Counselling | Postnatal Care and Counselling for Mother and Child | Reminders and Push Notifications | Notes and Records | Social Support | App Technical Features | |||||||||
Corr | p-Value | Corr | p-Value | Corr | p-Value | Corr | p-Value | Corr | p-Value | Corr | p-Value | Corr | p-Value | |
Mother (baseline) vs. father | 0.25 | 0.039 | −0.10 | 0.268 | −0.29 | 0.002 | −0.23 | 0.079 | −0.18 | 0.137 | −0.33 | 0.013 | −0.03 | 0.78 |
Family income | 0.12 | 0.327 | 0.03 | 0.744 | 0.04 | 0.703 | −0.29 | 0.033 | −0.28 | 0.025 | −0.08 | 0.576 | 0 | 0.975 |
Family education | 0.06 | 0.528 | 0.05 | 0.465 | 0.12 | 0.104 | −0.10 | 0.338 | −0.10 | 0.283 | −0.23 | 0.026 | −0.05 | 0.604 |
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Brunelli, L.; Bussolaro, S.; Dobrina, R.; De Vita, C.; Mazzolini, E.; Verardi, G.; Degrassi, M.; Piazza, M.; Cassone, A.; Starec, A.; et al. Exploring the Needs and Expectations of Expectant and New Parents for an mHealth Application to Support the First 1000 Days of Life: Steps toward a Co-Design Approach. Int. J. Environ. Res. Public Health 2023, 20, 1227. https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph20021227
Brunelli L, Bussolaro S, Dobrina R, De Vita C, Mazzolini E, Verardi G, Degrassi M, Piazza M, Cassone A, Starec A, et al. Exploring the Needs and Expectations of Expectant and New Parents for an mHealth Application to Support the First 1000 Days of Life: Steps toward a Co-Design Approach. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health. 2023; 20(2):1227. https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph20021227
Chicago/Turabian StyleBrunelli, Laura, Sofia Bussolaro, Raffaella Dobrina, Chiara De Vita, Elena Mazzolini, Giuseppa Verardi, Maura Degrassi, Maria Piazza, Andrea Cassone, Anja Starec, and et al. 2023. "Exploring the Needs and Expectations of Expectant and New Parents for an mHealth Application to Support the First 1000 Days of Life: Steps toward a Co-Design Approach" International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health 20, no. 2: 1227. https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph20021227