RecruitingNot ApplicableNCT06195358

Mobile Health Intervention for Infants in Guatemala (18-m Intervention)

Mobile Health Intervention to Promote Positive Infant Health Outcomes in Guatemala

Sponsor

Children's Hospital Los Angeles

Enrollment

220 participants

Start Date

Jan 25, 2024

Study Type

INTERVENTIONAL

Conditions

Infant Development

Summary

Promoting optimal development for children at risk in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs) is an important global health priority. Supporting caregivers to provide nurturing care is an evidence-based strategy, however feasibility of scaling-up this supporting is limited by competing demands on health workers' time. For infant development, mHealth technologies have the potential to solve this problem by providing tailored content directly to caregivers, involving and empowering them to promote infant development, promoting and facilitating interactions with health workers when areas of concern are identified and, therefore, expanding the reach of healthcare systems. Following a pilot feasibility study, this current study will examine the effectiveness of a caregiver-directed smartphone application to directly engage first-time caregivers in rural Guatemala and support early childhood development.

Eligibility

Max Age: 4 Weeks

Inclusion Criteria3

first-time caregivers with an infant in the eligible age range (0-4 weeks)
infant from singleton birth
infant from full-term (\> 37 weeks gestation) birth

Exclusion Criteria3

Presence of acute malnutrition/wasting or severe medical illness (heart disease, kidney disease, congenital abnormality) in the infant
medical need for supplementation of breastfeeding
caregiver not literate

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Interventions

DEVICEMobile Health (Smartphone) Application

The intervention arm will receive the smartphone application, which has been designed to engage primary caregivers directly in the active monitoring of their infants' development, and to provide tailored feedback and support for the provision of nurturing care. Study staff will make an initial home visit (less than an hour) to install the application on the caregiver phone and demonstrate use and collect baseline data. Subsequently, in the intervention arm, staff will make monthly visits (approximately 15 minutes duration) to assess functionality of the smartphone and answer questions/reinforce use.

OTHERPrinted Caregiving Materials

The control arm will receive printed caregiving materials. In the control arm, staff will make monthly visits (approximately 15 minutes duration) to ask if there are questions about the printed caregiving materials.