Parents' Perceptions About Future Digital Parental Support—A Phenomenographic Interview Study

Abstract

Background: Parents use digital sources (such as the internet or online forums and applications) during pregnancy and after childbirth to receive informative support. Research shows that there is further need for innovation development in digital parental support despite informative support available in digital form.Purpose: To explore parents' perceptions of future digital parental support concerning pregnancy and the first 18 months of parenthood.Method: A phenomenographic interview study with an inductive approach including 15 semi-structured interviews was conducted.Results: The analysis process resulted in three descriptive categories: Opportunities for virtual and in-person meetings, Individualized digital parental support, and Professional knowledge and trustworthiness concerning future digital parental support.Conclusion: The results broaden the knowledge about how future digital parental support can be designed to facilitate the functional, interactive, and critical digital health literacy of new and would-be parents. To succeed, healthcare organizations should allow healthcare professionals to assume an active role in developing digital parental support, both as health educators (i.e., providing parents with knowledge) and facilitators (i.e., facilitating parents' use of digital parental support). However, parents perceived that future digital parental support should complement standard care instead of replacing in-person meetings with healthcare professionals.

Digital Tools as Parental Support—A Study Protocol Describing Prospective Development and Exploration of Two Digital Tools for Parents

“…In addition, the results of this study might work as an indicator or a guide for healthcare professionals in their work with understanding how to meet the behavior and demands among parents ( 15 ). In their study, Bäckström et al ( 14 ) claims that healthcare professionals should have an active role in developing digital parental support. Therefore, the design of the previous study C including healthcare professionals who receive the interventions, could be seen as a study strength.…”

“…A mixed method study, according to Creswell [( 29 ), p. 457], “is one in which the research uses at least one quantitative method and one qualitative method to collect, analyze, and report findings in a single study”. Before designing the prospective study, a systematic literature review (submitted for review) and interviews with expecting and new parents were carried out ( 14 ) to broaden our understanding about how expecting and new parents use digital sources regarding childbearing and parenthood. The prospective study is an intervention study that includes the exploration of two different serious games, Childbirth Journey and Interplay .…”

“…The basis for developing Childbirth Journey was previous research conducted by the researchers ( 32 ), as well as interviews with expectant and new parents about their use and experiences of digital tools in relation to pregnancy, labor, and parenthood. The results of the interviews is published elsewhere ( 14 ). Childbirth Journey will consist of one interface for the pregnant woman and another for the partner because previous research has shown the importance of including both parental roles in professional support ( 32 ).…”

“…Also, they prefer information provided by health care professionals and information that is practical and reassures their knowledge ( 1 ). In a recent study, Bäckström et al ( 14 ) showed that parents perceive that future digital parental support should provide them with opportunities to have both virtual and in-person meetings, as well as individualized support based on professional knowledge and trustworthiness. The authors claim that such future digital parental support might facilitate digital health literacy of new and would-be parents.…”

“…An important conclusion that can be drawn from the multitude of previous studies of serious games is that they are challenging to create ( 28 ). Recent research has shown that expectant and new parents ask for more digital tools, such as serious games ( 14 ), and there is a lack of knowledge regarding serious games for expectant and new parents. Therefore, the prospective study described in this study protocol will explore serious games as digital tools for parental support, and both parents' and healthcare professionals' views will be included.…”