Accepted for/Published in: JMIR Formative Research
Date Submitted: Nov 24, 2019
Date Accepted: Mar 29, 2020
Assessing Feasibility of an Early Childhood Intervention Using Mobile Phones Among Low-Income Mothers of Newborns: An Interview Study
ABSTRACT
Background:
Many children younger than 5 years old living in low- and middle-income countries were at risk for poor development. Early childhood development programs are cost-effective strategies to reduce poverty, crime, school dropouts, and socioeconomic inequality. With the spread of low-cost mobile phones and internet access in low- and middle-income countries, new service delivery models such as mobile phone aided interventions have a great potential to improve early childhood development.
Objective:
This study aims to identify the demand for and acceptability of an early childhood intervention using mobile phones and factors that may affect the usability of the intervention among mothers of newborns in a poverty-stricken-area in Southwestern China.
Methods:
We conducted an in-depth, semi-structured interview study of 25 low-income mothers of newborns recruited from two county hospitals in Yunnan Province. We applied the Health Belief Model and cultural competence theories to identify the facilitators, barriers, and preferences among the target population for parenting knowledge.
Results:
The results showed that the participants had low health literacy and high perceived needs for learning early childhood development knowledge. In the meantime, they experienced several barriers to learning parenting information and following the evidence-based instructions including having limited time, limited financial resources, and different opinions on childcare among family members. Many participants preferred to receive personalized messages that are tailored to their specific needs, and preferred videos or graphics to text only in the messages. Many favored a separate module to support postpartum mental health.
Conclusions:
The study assessed the acceptability of an early childhood intervention using mobile phones to meet the needs of the target population based on their beliefs, traits, and preferences, and provided suggestions to refine the intervention to improve its usability.
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Copyright
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