Taki Sarah, Russell Catherine G, Wen Li M, Laws Rachel A, Campbell Karen, Xu Huilan, Denney-Wilson Elizabeth
Health Promotion Unit, Camperdown, NSW, Australia.
Sydney School of Public Health, Sydney Medical School, University of Sydney, Camperdown, NSW, Australia.
Front Public Health. 2019 Mar 22;7:60. doi: 10.3389/fpubh.2019.00060. eCollection 2019.
There has been increasing interest in using mobile applications ("apps") for innovative health service delivery and public health interventions. This paper describes two independent studies investigating mothers' or pregnant women's perceptions of, interest in and experiences with technological devices, apps and websites about infant feeding practices. Study 1 was a cross-sectional survey conducted with 107 pregnant women in their third trimester in late 2016 and early 2017. Multiple logistic regression analyses were conducted to examine factors associated with their app usage. The second was a qualitative study of 29 mothers of infants aged <1 year conducted in 2014. Thematic network analysis was used to explore the themes from the transcribed interviews. Study 1 found that the use of apps was common among the pregnant women, with 100% having previously downloaded an app on their phone either free or paid. About 60% had used an app for health purposes. The majority reported that they were likely to use an app promoting healthy infant feeding practices, including 30% extremely likely and 53% very likely. Women with university or other tertiary level of education were more likely to use an app for promoting healthy infant feeding practices than those with other levels of education (adjusted odds ratio 3.22, 95% confidence interval 1.28-8.13). The qualitative interviews found that all the mothers were interested in a mobile program to support them with infant feeding practices. Participants felt they would benefit from individualized messages although did not want them to be sent too frequently. Further, participants also expressed the importance of having non-judgmental information and they were interested in receiving information using different modes such as videos, SMS or an app. Both studies suggest that using apps for promoting healthy infant feeding practices is acceptable from the perspective of mothers. There is great potential for health promotion practitioners to be engaged in app development for the purpose of promoting health in early years and health promotion in general.
人们对使用移动应用程序（“应用”）来提供创新的医疗服务和开展公共卫生干预的兴趣与日俱增。本文介绍了两项独立研究，调查母亲或孕妇对有关婴儿喂养实践的技术设备、应用程序和网站的看法、兴趣及使用体验。研究1是2016年末至2017年初对107名孕晚期孕妇进行的横断面调查。进行了多项逻辑回归分析，以研究与她们使用应用程序相关的因素。第二项是2014年对29名1岁以下婴儿的母亲进行的定性研究。采用主题网络分析法从转录访谈中探索主题。研究1发现，孕妇中使用应用程序很普遍，100%的孕妇此前曾在手机上下载过免费或付费应用程序。约60%的孕妇曾出于健康目的使用过应用程序。大多数人表示，她们可能会使用推广健康婴儿喂养实践的应用程序，其中30%表示极有可能，53%表示很有可能。拥有大学或其他高等教育水平的女性比其他教育水平的女性更有可能使用推广健康婴儿喂养实践的应用程序（调整后的优势比为3.22，95%置信区间为1.28 - 8.13）。定性访谈发现，所有母亲都对支持她们进行婴儿喂养实践的移动程序感兴趣。参与者认为她们会从个性化信息中受益，不过不希望信息发送过于频繁。此外，参与者还强调了提供无偏见信息的重要性，并且她们有兴趣通过视频、短信或应用程序等不同方式接收信息。两项研究均表明，从母亲的角度来看，使用应用程序来推广健康的婴儿喂养实践是可以接受的。健康促进从业者有很大潜力参与应用程序开发，以促进早期健康及总体健康促进。
