COVID-19大流行影响了准父母和年幼婴儿父母的生活,医疗保健供应中断和失去社会支持。
这项研究通过英国国家卫生服务批准的怀孕和育儿智能手机应用程序的用户的镜头,调查了COVID-19大流行及其相关的封锁对该人群的影响,宝贝巴迪。这项研究的目的有三方面:在COVID-19大流行期间,深入了解准父母和最近父母(24周龄以下的婴儿)的态度和经历;调查这段时间婴儿好友是否满足用户的需求;并确定修改婴儿好友内容的方法,以更好地支持现在和将来的用户。
采用了混合方法研究设计,将基于网络的调查与英国BabyBuddy用户的半结构化电话访谈相结合。数据收集时间为2020年4月15日至6月中旬,对应于英国封锁的第4-13周。
共有436位预期父母(n=244,56.0%)和最近的父母(n=192,44.0%)对基于网络的调查做出了回应,其中79.1%(n=345)年龄在25-39岁之间,17.2%(n=75)以英语为第二语言。在436名受访者中,88.5%(386/436)报告怀孕前后焦虑水平增加,出生,作为一个新的父母,58.0%(253/436)担心他们的情绪和心理健康。在244名怀孕的受访者中,43.4%(n=106)担心他们的身体健康。对13名孕妇和19名最近的父母的电话采访显示,由于医疗保健供应减少以及失去朋友和家人的支持,焦虑程度也同样增加。尽管少数受访者认为封锁带来了一些积极的结果,比如家庭纽带,许多电话受访者表示感到孤立,无视,不知所措。最近的父母特别担心封锁对婴儿发育和社会化的影响。许多受访者还担心他们的身体健康,因为他们获得面对面医疗预约的机会有限,以及他们自己较差的饮食和体育活动行为。在这两个样本中,97.0%(423/436)的受访者表示BabyBuddy目前正在帮助他们,许多人评论说,鉴于缺乏医疗保健和育儿组织的面对面支持,它的作用更加重要。有人建议加快更新数字内容的速度,以反映大流行造成的变化。
COVID-19大流行使准父母和有年幼婴儿的人的焦虑和压力加剧,对很多人来说,封锁对他们的身心健康产生了不利影响。随着医疗保健和社会支持的减少,准父母和新父母越来越依赖基于网络的资源。作为一个自由的,基于证据的应用程序,BabyBuddy很好地满足了这种需求。该应用程序可以通过积极引导用户了解与他们关注的相关的现有内容,并通过添加内容来为用户提供知识和信心,以应对新的挑战,从而为用户提供更多支持。
The COVID-19 pandemic has impacted the lives of expectant parents and parents of young babies, with disruptions in health care provision and loss of social support.
This
study investigated the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic and its associated lockdown on this population through the lens of users of the UK National Health Service-approved pregnancy and parenting smartphone app, Baby Buddy. The
study aims were threefold: to gain insights into the attitudes and experiences of expectant and recent parents (with babies under 24 weeks of age) during the COVID-19 pandemic; to investigate whether Baby Buddy is meeting users\' needs during this time; and to identify ways to revise the content of Baby Buddy to better support its users now and in future.
A mixed methods
study design combining a web-based survey with semistructured telephone interviews among Baby Buddy users in the United Kingdom was applied. Data were collected from April 15 to mid-June 2020, corresponding to weeks 4-13 of the lockdown in the United Kingdom.
A total of 436 expectant (n=244, 56.0%) and recent (n=192, 44.0%) parents responded to the web-based survey, of which 79.1% (n=345) were aged 25-39 years and 17.2% (n=75) spoke English as their second language. Of the 436 respondents, 88.5% (386/436) reported increased levels of anxiety around pregnancy, birth, and being a new parent, and 58.0% (253/436) were concerned about their emotional and mental health. Of the 244 pregnant respondents, 43.4% (n=106) were concerned about their physical health. Telephone interviews with 13 pregnant women and 19 recent parents revealed similarly increased levels of anxiety due to reduced health care provision and loss of support from friends and family. Although a minority of respondents identified some positive outcomes of lockdown, such as family bonding, many telephone interviewees reported feeling isolated, disregarded, and overwhelmed. Recent parents were particularly anxious about the impact of the lockdown on their baby\'s development and socialization. Many interviewees were also concerned about their physical health as a consequence of both limited access to face-to-face medical appointments and their own poorer dietary and physical activity behaviors. Across both samples, 97.0% (423/436) of respondents reported that Baby Buddy was currently helping them, with many commenting that its role was even more important given the lack of face-to-face support from health care and parenting organizations. Greater speed in updating digital content to reflect changes due to the pandemic was suggested.
The COVID-19 pandemic has created heightened anxiety and stress among expectant parents and those with a young baby, and for many, lockdown has had an adverse impact on their physical and mental well-being. With reductions in health care and social support, expectant and new parents are increasingly relying on web-based resources. As a free, evidence-based app, Baby Buddy is well positioned to meet this need. The app could support its users even more by actively directing them to the wealth of existing content relevant to their concerns and by adding content to give users the knowledge and confidence to meet new challenges.