Consumer Engagement in Mobile Application (App) Interventions Focused on Supporting Infant Feeding Practices for Early Prevention of Childhood Obesity

Abstract

Background and Aims: There has been increasing interest in using mobile applications (“apps”) for innovative health service delivery and public health interventions. This paper describes two independent studies investigating mothers' or pregnant women's perceptions of, interest in and experiences with technological devices, apps and websites about infant feeding practices. Methods: Study 1 was a cross-sectional survey conducted with 107 pregnant women in their third trimester in late 2016 and early 2017. Multiple logistic regression analyses were conducted to examine factors associated with their app usage. The second was a qualitative study of 29 mothers of infants aged <1 year conducted in 2014. Thematic network analysis was used to explore the themes from the transcribed interviews. Results: Study 1 found that the use of apps was common among the pregnant women, with 100% having previously downloaded an app on their phone either free or paid. About 60% had used an app for health purposes. The majority reported that they were likely to use an app promoting healthy infant feeding practices, including 30% extremely likely and 53% very likely. Women with university or other tertiary level of education were more likely to use an app for promoting healthy infant feeding practices than those with other levels of education (adjusted odds ratio 3.22, 95% confidence interval 1.28–8.13). The qualitative interviews found that all the mothers were interested in a mobile program to support them with infant feeding practices. Participants felt they would benefit from individualized messages although did not want them to be sent too frequently. Further, participants also expressed the importance of having non-judgmental information and they were interested in receiving information using different modes such as videos, SMS or an app. Conclusions: Both studies suggest that using apps for promoting healthy infant feeding practices is acceptable from the perspective of mothers. There is great potential for health promotion practitioners to be engaged in app development for the purpose of promoting health in early years and health promotion in general.

A systematic evaluation of digital nutrition promotion websites and apps for supporting parents to influence children’s nutrition

“…Moreover, features that enabled interaction with health professionals and other users were important to parents. These findings are consistent with user-testing for other health-related apps [69,70]. Overall, websites and apps in use currently as health promotion tools targeting parents reviewed here did not meet the combination of desired features and content identified in user-testing.…”

“…Digital interventions delivered to parents in other contexts support the use of apps and websites as an effective intervention mode for improving health behaviours. Digital tools promoting healthy infant feeding practices with mothers have shown promising results [69,70], as have studies evaluating the effects of appbased nutrition promotion interventions during pregnancy although improvements compared to controls were not statistically significant [71]. Improvements equal to or slightly better than comparison groups suggest that digital nutrition promotion interventions are at least similar to conventional nutrition intervention delivery modes such as face-to-face programs and pamphlets [28,38].…”

Internet of things–Enabled technologies as an intervention for childhood obesity: A systematic review

“…Four studies involved no participants. The length of study ranged from several days over a period of one week [ 21 ] to nine months [ 31 ]. 21 studies took place within a single country, whilst two studies were conducted over multiple countries [ 16 , 18 ].…”

“…Four studies described system designs and therefore are not listed in the table [ 13 , 14 , 18 , 22 ]. Despite the heterogeneity of effectiveness and outcome measures, a few subthemes could be identified: accuracy of technology (n = 2 [ 15 , 30 ]), usability and engagement (n = 7 [ 14 , 16 , 17 , 21 , 27 , 29 , 31 ]), qualitative perception and acceptance of users towards technology (n = 9 [ 14 , 19 – 21 , 25 , 26 , 29 , 31 , 33 , 34 ]), behaviour change metrics (e.g. improved physical activity level, n = 8 [ 17 , 18 , 20 , 25 – 27 , 29 , 33 ])) and physical improvement (BMI change, n = 7 [ 19 , 21 , 23 , 26 , 32 – 34 ]).…”

Technosociality and Health Promotion in the Daily Lives of Primary Care Users: A Scoping Review

“…There is great potential for professionals to get involved in application development, with the aim of promoting health in the early years of life and in general. However, some negative feelings, upon receiving information, were aroused, highlighting the feeling of guilt of users for their feeding practice 23 .…”