Exploring the Needs and Expectations of Expectant and New Parents for an mHealth Application to Support the First 1000 Days of Life: Steps toward a Co-Design Approach

Laura Brunelli (), Sofia Bussolaro, Raffaella Dobrina, Chiara De Vita, Elena Mazzolini, Giuseppa Verardi, Maura Degrassi, Maria Piazza, Andrea Cassone, Anja Starec, Giuseppe Ricci, Sara Zanchiello and Tamara Stampalija
Additional contact information
Laura Brunelli: Department of Medical, Surgical and Health Sciences, University of Trieste, 34129 Trieste, Italy
Sofia Bussolaro: Department of Medical, Surgical and Health Sciences, University of Trieste, 34129 Trieste, Italy
Raffaella Dobrina: Healthcare Professions Department, Institute for Maternal and Child Health-IRCCS “Burlo Garofolo”, 34137 Trieste, Italy
Chiara De Vita: Area Science Park, 34149 Trieste, Italy
Elena Mazzolini: Department of Epidemiology, Istituto Zooprofilattico Sperimentale delle Venezie, 35020 Legnaro, Italy
Giuseppa Verardi: Healthcare Professions Department, Institute for Maternal and Child Health-IRCCS “Burlo Garofolo”, 34137 Trieste, Italy
Maura Degrassi: Healthcare Professions Department, Institute for Maternal and Child Health-IRCCS “Burlo Garofolo”, 34137 Trieste, Italy
Maria Piazza: Healthcare Professions Department, Institute for Maternal and Child Health-IRCCS “Burlo Garofolo”, 34137 Trieste, Italy
Andrea Cassone: Healthcare Professions Department, Institute for Maternal and Child Health-IRCCS “Burlo Garofolo”, 34137 Trieste, Italy
Anja Starec: Area Science Park, 34149 Trieste, Italy
Giuseppe Ricci: Department of Medical, Surgical and Health Sciences, University of Trieste, 34129 Trieste, Italy
Sara Zanchiello: Area Science Park, 34149 Trieste, Italy
Tamara Stampalija: Department of Medical, Surgical and Health Sciences, University of Trieste, 34129 Trieste, Italy

IJERPH, 2023, vol. 20, issue 2, 1-14

Abstract: To improve maternal and child health, it is essential to adhere to health-promoting and preventive measures. However, reliable information as well as effective tools are not easy to identify in this field. Our cross-sectional study investigated the needs and expectations of expectant and new mothers and fathers as potential primary users of a hypothetical application supporting the first 1000 days of life. Between May and August 2022, we recruited expectant and new parents by administering an 83-item 5-point Likert scale questionnaire related to the content, functionalities, and technical features of the hypothetical app. We stratified responses using sociodemographic characteristics and then performed ward hierarchical clustering. The 94 women and 69 men involved in our study generally agreed with the proposed content, but expressed low interest in certain app functionalities or features, including those related to the interaction mechanism and interactivity. Women were generally more demanding than men. Our findings, resulting from the engagement of end-users, may be useful for designers and technology providers to implement mHealth solutions that, in addition to conveying reliable information, are tailored to the needs and preferences of end-users in the first 1000 days of life.

Keywords: mHealth; pregnancy; app; first 1000 days; co-design; expectant parents (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I I1 I3 Q Q5 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2023
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/20/2/1227/pdf (application/pdf)
https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/20/2/1227/ (text/html)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:gam:jijerp:v:20:y:2023:i:2:p:1227-:d:1030768

Access Statistics for this article

IJERPH is currently edited by Ms. Jenna Liu

More articles in IJERPH from MDPI
Bibliographic data for series maintained by MDPI Indexing Manager ().