The impacts of an mHealth intervention targeting parents on health service usage and out‐of‐pocket costs in the first 9 months of life: The Growing healthy app
Abstract Mobile health (mHealth) interventions provide a low‐cost, scalable approach to supporting parents with infant feeding advice with the potential to reduce health care visits and associated costs for infant feeding support. This Australian study examined the impact of the Growing healthy (GH)...
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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Wiley
2024-10-01
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| Series: | Maternal and Child Nutrition |
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| Online Access: | https://doi.org/10.1111/mcn.13662 |
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| author | Rachel A. Laws Miaobing Zheng Vicki Brown Sharyn Lymer Karen J. Campbell Catherine G. Russell Sarah Taki Eloise Litterbach Kok‐Leong Ong Elizabeth Denney‐Wilson |
| author_facet | Rachel A. Laws Miaobing Zheng Vicki Brown Sharyn Lymer Karen J. Campbell Catherine G. Russell Sarah Taki Eloise Litterbach Kok‐Leong Ong Elizabeth Denney‐Wilson |
| author_sort | Rachel A. Laws |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Abstract Mobile health (mHealth) interventions provide a low‐cost, scalable approach to supporting parents with infant feeding advice with the potential to reduce health care visits and associated costs for infant feeding support. This Australian study examined the impact of the Growing healthy (GH) app on health service utilisation and out‐of‐pocket costs for families in the first 9 months of their infants life. A quasi‐experimental study with a comparison group was conducted in 2015–2016 with an mHealth intervention group (GH app, n = 301) and a nonrandomized usual care group (n = 344). The GH app aimed to support parents of young infants with healthy infant feeding behaviours from birth to 9 months of age. App‐generated notifications directed parents to age‐and feeding‐specific content within the app. Both groups completed surveys at baseline when infants were less than 3 months old (T1), at 6 months (T2) and 9 months (T3) of age. At T3, participants reported health services used and any out‐of‐pocket costs for advice on infant feeding, growth or activity. App users had lower odds (odds ratio: 0.38 95% confidence interval: 0.25, 0.59) of using one or more services and had lower number of visits to a general practitioner (1.0 vs. 1.5 visits, p = 0.003) and paediatrician (0.3 vs. 0.4 visits, p = 0.049) compared to the usual care group. There was no difference in out‐of‐pocket costs between groups. Provision of an evidenced‐based infant feeding app may provide substantial savings to the health system and potentially to parents through fewer primary health care and paediatrician visits. |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj-art-e7668e0d9caa4f42a13b4df25a783e13 |
| institution | Kabale University |
| issn | 1740-8695 1740-8709 |
| language | English |
| publishDate | 2024-10-01 |
| publisher | Wiley |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Maternal and Child Nutrition |
| spelling | doaj-art-e7668e0d9caa4f42a13b4df25a783e132024-11-19T11:34:12ZengWileyMaternal and Child Nutrition1740-86951740-87092024-10-01204n/an/a10.1111/mcn.13662The impacts of an mHealth intervention targeting parents on health service usage and out‐of‐pocket costs in the first 9 months of life: The Growing healthy appRachel A. Laws0Miaobing Zheng1Vicki Brown2Sharyn Lymer3Karen J. Campbell4Catherine G. Russell5Sarah Taki6Eloise Litterbach7Kok‐Leong Ong8Elizabeth Denney‐Wilson9School of Exercise and Nutrition Science, Institute for Physical Activity and Nutrition Deakin University Geelong VIC AustraliaSchool of Exercise and Nutrition Science, Institute for Physical Activity and Nutrition Deakin University Geelong VIC AustraliaDeakin Health Economics, Institute for Health Transformation Deakin University Geelong VIC AustraliaBiostatistics Consultant Sydney NSW AustraliaSchool of Exercise and Nutrition Science, Institute for Physical Activity and Nutrition Deakin University Geelong VIC AustraliaSchool of Exercise and Nutrition Science, Institute for Physical Activity and Nutrition Deakin University Geelong VIC AustraliaHealth Promotion Unit Population Health Research & Evaluation Hub, Sydney Local Health District Sydney NSW AustraliaSchool of Exercise and Nutrition Science, Institute for Physical Activity and Nutrition Deakin University Geelong VIC AustraliaDepartment of Information Systems and Business Analytics, AISSC RMIT University Melbourne VIC AustraliaSusan Wakil School of Nursing and Midwifery, Faculty of Medicine and Health The University of Sydney Sydney NSW AustraliaAbstract Mobile health (mHealth) interventions provide a low‐cost, scalable approach to supporting parents with infant feeding advice with the potential to reduce health care visits and associated costs for infant feeding support. This Australian study examined the impact of the Growing healthy (GH) app on health service utilisation and out‐of‐pocket costs for families in the first 9 months of their infants life. A quasi‐experimental study with a comparison group was conducted in 2015–2016 with an mHealth intervention group (GH app, n = 301) and a nonrandomized usual care group (n = 344). The GH app aimed to support parents of young infants with healthy infant feeding behaviours from birth to 9 months of age. App‐generated notifications directed parents to age‐and feeding‐specific content within the app. Both groups completed surveys at baseline when infants were less than 3 months old (T1), at 6 months (T2) and 9 months (T3) of age. At T3, participants reported health services used and any out‐of‐pocket costs for advice on infant feeding, growth or activity. App users had lower odds (odds ratio: 0.38 95% confidence interval: 0.25, 0.59) of using one or more services and had lower number of visits to a general practitioner (1.0 vs. 1.5 visits, p = 0.003) and paediatrician (0.3 vs. 0.4 visits, p = 0.049) compared to the usual care group. There was no difference in out‐of‐pocket costs between groups. Provision of an evidenced‐based infant feeding app may provide substantial savings to the health system and potentially to parents through fewer primary health care and paediatrician visits.https://doi.org/10.1111/mcn.13662economics medicalhealth servicesinfancymHealthobesity preventionparents |
| spellingShingle | Rachel A. Laws Miaobing Zheng Vicki Brown Sharyn Lymer Karen J. Campbell Catherine G. Russell Sarah Taki Eloise Litterbach Kok‐Leong Ong Elizabeth Denney‐Wilson The impacts of an mHealth intervention targeting parents on health service usage and out‐of‐pocket costs in the first 9 months of life: The Growing healthy app Maternal and Child Nutrition economics medical health services infancy mHealth obesity prevention parents |
| title | The impacts of an mHealth intervention targeting parents on health service usage and out‐of‐pocket costs in the first 9 months of life: The Growing healthy app |
| title_full | The impacts of an mHealth intervention targeting parents on health service usage and out‐of‐pocket costs in the first 9 months of life: The Growing healthy app |
| title_fullStr | The impacts of an mHealth intervention targeting parents on health service usage and out‐of‐pocket costs in the first 9 months of life: The Growing healthy app |
| title_full_unstemmed | The impacts of an mHealth intervention targeting parents on health service usage and out‐of‐pocket costs in the first 9 months of life: The Growing healthy app |
| title_short | The impacts of an mHealth intervention targeting parents on health service usage and out‐of‐pocket costs in the first 9 months of life: The Growing healthy app |
| title_sort | impacts of an mhealth intervention targeting parents on health service usage and out of pocket costs in the first 9 months of life the growing healthy app |
| topic | economics medical health services infancy mHealth obesity prevention parents |
| url | https://doi.org/10.1111/mcn.13662 |
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