Mobile application helps improve parents’ emotional well-being and infants’ overall development
Published: 03 Jan 2024
A/Prof Shefaly Shorey (centre) with parents and their infant (Credit: NUS Nursing)
The arrival of a newborn is a delightful occasion for many parents, but the transition to parenthood can be challenging. Adjusting to new or additional parenting responsibilities often results in increased stress levels and sleep deprivation for both mothers and fathers. This is also exacerbated by the lack of support for the new parents and issues related to the health of the newborn.
However, an app providing helpful information and tips from doctors and other infant care experts on caring for the newborn is proving to be a boon for stressed and anxious parents. The app, developed by the Alice Lee Centre for Nursing Studies at the Yong Loo Lin School of Medicine, National University of Singapore (NUS Nursing), provides information catered to local parents, through videos, podcasts, and written articles that were developed by local experts. These experts comprised obstetricians, psychiatrists, nurses, and midwives from NUS Nursing, NUS Medicine, the National University Hospital, National University Polyclinics, KK Women’s and Children’s Hospital, and Singapore General Hospital.
The app’s effectiveness was studied amidst the COVID-19 pandemic by Associate Professor Shefaly Shorey and her team at NUS Nursing. Over a period of 3 years, the team observed its effectiveness on parental outcomes—including postnatal depression, anxiety, parental bonding, parental self-efficacy, perceived social support, and parenting satisfaction, as well as infant developmental outcomes. During the perinatal period, which refers to the time from the start of pregnancy to a year after giving birth, the team found that both fathers and mothers who used the mobile app showed better parental outcomes, especially in perceived social support. Parents who used the app had significantly higher help-seeking scores than those who did not use the app during the post-childbirth period. Due to increased struggles from coping with additional parenting responsibilities after childbirth, most parents screened higher for depressive symptoms scores. However, depressive symptoms in mothers who used the app gradually decreased over time after one month postpartum. This reduction in depressive symptoms was maintained until the last follow-up at nine months postpartum. In contrast, depressive symptoms among mothers who did not use the app started to increase post-childbirth.
Infants whose parents had used the app also fared better in most developmental outcome measures. The chances of these infants being at risk for certain developmental delays were lower compared to infants whose parents did not use the app—including 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.
Assoc Prof Shorey said, “Despite the difficulties that accompanied their parenting journey, especially during the COVID-19 pandemic, mothers and fathers were able to receive timely and useful support from the resources provided through the mobile app. Our study proved that the mobile health intervention was a good source of evidence-based yet localised information and reliable support, to help parents care for newborns and their own emotional and overall well-being.”
Read more in the press release here.
