Dataset Information

See How They Grow: Testing the feasibility of a mobile app to support parents' understanding of child growth charts.

ABSTRACT:

Background

Mobile devices provide new opportunities for the prevention of overweight and obesity in children. We aimed to co-create and test an app that offered comprehensible feedback to parents on their child's growth and delivered a suite of age-specific information about nutrition and activity.

Methods

A two-phased approach was used to co-create the digital growth tool-See How They Grow-and test its feasibility. Phase one used focus groups (parents and professionals such as paediatricians and midwives) and a national on-line survey to gather requirements and build the app. Phase two involved testing the app over 12-weeks, with parents or carers of children aged ? 2-years. All research activities were undertaken exclusively through the app, and participants were recruited using social media and hard copy materials given to patents at a child health visit.

Findings

Four focus groups and 101 responses to the national survey informed the features and functions to include in the final app. Two hundred and twenty-five participants downloaded the app, resulting in 208 eligible participants. Non-M?ori/Non-Pacific (78%) and M?ori (14%) had the highest downloads. Fifty-four per cent of participants were parents of children under 6-months. These participants were more likely to regularly use the app than those with children older than 6-months (64% vs 36%, P = 0.011). Over half of the participants entered three measures (n = 101, 48%). Of those that completed the follow-up survey (n = 101, 48%), 72 reported that the app helped them better understand how to interpret growth charts.

Conclusion

The app was acceptable and with minor modifications, has the potential to be an effective tool to support parents understanding of growth trajectories for their children. A larger trial is needed to evaluate if the app can have a measurable impact on increasing knowledge and behaviour, and therefore on preventing childhood overweight and obesity.

SUBMITTER: Humphrey G

PROVIDER: S-EPMC7894826 | biostudies-literature | 2021

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

ACCESS DATA

Publications

See How They Grow: Testing the feasibility of a mobile app to support parents' understanding of child growth charts.

Humphrey Gayl G Dobson Rosie R Parag Varsha V Hiemstra Marion M Howie Stephen S Marsh Samantha S Morton Susan S Mordaunt Dylan D Wadham Angela A Bullen Chris C

PloS one 20210219 2

<h4>Background</h4>Mobile devices provide new opportunities for the prevention of overweight and obesity in children. We aimed to co-create and test an app that offered comprehensible feedback to parents on their child's growth and delivered a suite of age-specific information about nutrition and activity.<h4>Methods</h4>A two-phased approach was used to co-create the digital growth tool-See How They Grow-and test its feasibility. Phase one used focus groups (parents and professionals such as pa ...[more]

PMID: 33606687

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Dataset Information

See How They Grow: Testing the feasibility of a mobile app to support parents' understanding of child growth charts.

Background

Methods

Findings

Conclusion

Publications

See How They Grow: Testing the feasibility of a mobile app to support parents' understanding of child growth charts.

Similar Datasets

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