Pediatrics & Therapeutics
Open Access
ISSN: 2161-0665
+44 1478 350008
ISSN: 2161-0665
+44 1478 350008
Shefaly Shorey, Ying Lau, Cindy Lee Dennis, Wilson Tam and Yiong Huak Chan
National University of Singapore, Singapore
University of Toronto, Canada
Scientific Tracks Abstracts: Pediatr Ther
Aim: The aim of this project was to design, develop and test an M-Health App for the new parents in the early postpartum period. Methodology: The randomized controlled trial, two-group, pre-test and post-test design was used. The study had two phases. The phase-I of the study examined parental needs and development of the Mobile-Health App according to their needs. The Phase-II of the study tested the intervention among 250 parents. The parents were randomly assigned to the intervention (n=126) or control (n=124) groups. The intervention group received the mobile-health application based educational programme on top of routine care while the control group received routine care only. For Phase-II the parental self-efficacy, social support, postnatal depression, and parenting satisfaction were measured using reliable and valid instruments. A linear mixed-method analysis was used to compare the percentage change of all outcome variables from the baseline to four weeks postpartum between groups. At the end of four weeks, 17 parents who used the App were interviewed which was audiorecorded to collect their views especially related to the strengths, weaknesses and areas of improvements of the App. Data were analysed using SPSS software and thematic analysis. Results: The intervention group had significant improvements of parental self-efficacy, social support, and parenting satisfaction at four weeks postpartum when compared with the control group. Postnatal depression scores did not show a significant improvement when compared to the control group. Conclusions: The mobile-health application was effective in improving parental self-efficacy, social support, and parenting satisfaction, and hence, should be introduced and carried out in routine care by nurses. Further studies should focus on evaluating the effects of this programme in reducing postnatal depression among parents.
Shefaly Shorey is an Assistant Professor at Alice Lee Centre for Nursing Studies, National University of Singapore. Her research areas focus on family and women health as well as nursing education. She has designed psychosocial and educational interventions for varied group of populations. She has conducted both quantitative (e.g. randomized controlled trials, descriptive quantitative studies) and qualitative (e.g. descriptive qualitative) studies. Her research studies involve national and international collaborations. Her research focus is on enhancing health outcomes, quality of care and students’ satisfaction in nursing education. She has received various awards for her academic and research excellence. She has been invited at various conferences and the findings of her research have been presented in national, regional and international conferences. She has published in high impact factor journals.
Email:nurssh@nus.ediu.sg