The birth of a baby is a joyous event for many parents, yet the shift to parenthood can pose challenges. Adapting to new or increased parental duties often leads to heightened stress levels and lack of sleep for both mothers and fathers. This situation is further compounded by the absence of assistance for the new parents and concerns regarding the newborn’s health.
Nonetheless, an application that offers valuable insights and guidance from medical professionals and other experts in infant care on how to nurture the newborn is proving to be a blessing for overwhelmed and apprehensive parents. Developed by the Alice Lee Centre for Nursing Studies at the Yong Loo Lin School of Medicine, National University of Singapore (NUS Nursing), this app delivers tailored information to local parents through locally produced videos, podcasts, and written articles created by experts in the field.
These experts include obstetricians, psychiatrists, nurses, and midwives from various esteemed institutions such as NUS Nursing, NUS Medicine, the National University Hospital, National University Polyclinics, KK Women’s and Children’s Hospital, and Singapore General Hospital.
The Supportive Parenting Application (SPA) offers a range of content covering parental self-care, parenting techniques, and infant care. This includes tutorials on bathing the baby, building a bond with the newborn, breastfeeding guidance, and advice on managing emotional and psychological challenges post-birth.
Additionally, the SPA features a platform for parents to engage in discussions, seek advice, and connect with a trained peer volunteer from a pool of 29 individuals who share similar socio-demographic and parenting backgrounds, providing emotional support.
The efficacy of the app was examined during the COVID-19 pandemic by Associate Professor Shefaly Shorey and her team at NUS Nursing. Over a span of 3 years, the team evaluated its impact on parental well-being, encompassing aspects such as postnatal depression, anxiety levels, parental bonding, self-efficacy in parenting, perceived social support, parenting satisfaction, and infant developmental progress.
Throughout the perinatal phase, defined as the period from the onset of pregnancy until one year postpartum, both mothers and fathers who utilized the mobile app exhibited improved parental outcomes, particularly in terms of perceived social support. Parents who engaged with the app demonstrated notably higher scores in seeking help compared to those who did not utilize the platform post-childbirth.
With the added responsibilities that come with caring for a newborn, many parents experienced heightened levels of depressive symptoms postpartum. However, mothers who engaged with the app witnessed a gradual decrease in depressive symptoms starting one month after childbirth, a trend that persisted until the final follow-up at nine months postpartum. Conversely, mothers who did not utilize the app experienced an increase in depressive symptoms following childbirth.
Infants whose parents engaged with the app also displayed better developmental outcomes across various measures. These infants had lower risks of developmental delays in cognitive (5.5% vs. 23.8%), motor (9.1% vs. 19.0%), communication (1.5% vs. 4.4%), and social (18.2% vs. 20.0%) skills compared to infants whose parents did not use the app.
Assoc Prof Shorey remarked, “Despite the challenges encountered on their parenting journey, particularly during the COVID-19 pandemic, mothers and fathers were able to access timely and valuable support through the resources offered by the mobile app. Our study underscored that the mobile health intervention served as a reliable source of evidence-based, locally relevant information and dependable support, aiding parents in caring for their newborns while addressing their emotional and overall well-being.”
The research initiative commenced in February 2020, enlisting 200 expectant mothers and their partners, aged between 26 to 41 years, from a gestational period of at least 24 weeks (third trimester of pregnancy).
The team administered questionnaires, conducted assessments on the newborns, and conducted interviews with the parents up to one year postpartum. The findings were subsequently published in five distinct papers across the Journal of Medical Internet Research, Journal of Clinical Nursing, and Journal of Advanced Nursing from 2021 to 2023. The SPA emerged as a dependable resource for parents, particularly during the COVID-19 era when access to support and resources was limited.
The study also delved into the experiences of peer volunteers in providing support and their utilization of the SPA. It was noted that offering peer support contributed to enhancing the mental and emotional well-being of individuals who had previously encountered postnatal depression.
Technology-driven interventions crafted by healthcare professionals, coupled with peer support and contextually relevant information for Singaporean parents, including dedicated sections for fathers, collectively complement the care dispensed by healthcare providers. This holistic approach aims to offer comprehensive perinatal support to parents, aiding them and their infants in achieving improved parental and developmental outcomes, respectively.
The research team intends to expand the project by further enhancing the SPA and assessing its impact on parents facing psycho-social challenges and those from vulnerable backgrounds such as low socio-economic status and parents of children with special needs. The NUS Nursing team aspires to make the SPA and its contents accessible to local parents in the near future.
More information: Shefaly Shorey et al, ‘Been there, experienced that’: A qualitative study on the experiences and perceptions of online peer volunteers in supporting Singaporean mothers at risk of depression, Journal of Advanced Nursing (2023). DOI: 10.1111/jan.15867
Provided by National University of Singapore
Citation: Mobile application helps improve parents’ emotional well-being and infants’ overall development (2024, January 3) retrieved 3 January 2024 from https://medicalxpress.com/news/2024-01-mobile-application-parents-emotional-infants.html
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