Electronic and paper diary recording of infant and caregiver behaviors

To assess (1) preference of parental use of an electronic diary (e-diary) over a paper diary to record continuous infant and caregiver behaviors over 7 days; (2) whether e-diary recordings would differ in systematic ways from those obtained by paper diaries, and (3) frequency of diary entries when parents provide entries when convenient.

Mothers of normal newborns were randomized at 5 weeks infant age to a paper diary first (n = 34) or e-diary first (n = 35) group. With 3 days between, mothers completed 7-day recordings on both the paper Baby's Day Diary and an analogous personal digital assistant e-diary for infant (sleep, awake alert, feeding, fussing, crying, inconsolable crying) and caregiver (carrying/holding, moving) behaviors, and completed post diary ease-of-use ratings and poststudy preference ratings.

Mothers found e-diaries less bothersome but similarly disruptive and enjoyable to paper diaries. At study end, more found e-diaries easier to use, less bothersome and more efficient. E-diary behaviors were consistently more frequent, but rarely different in duration, then paper diary behaviors. Time-stamped e-diary entries (1) generally declined across weeks, (2) were higher if e-diaries were used first, and (3) settled at a modal 2 to 3 entries/day by the second week.

For behavioral recording of infant and caregiver behaviors, mothers generally expressed more approval for e-diaries than paper diaries, but neither was considered onerous. E-diaries consistently report more frequent but similar durations of behaviors. If recording when convenient, daily diary entries trend toward 2 to 3 entries a day. The e-diary results provide convergent evidence that paper diary recordings of common infant and caregiver behavior durations provide good estimates of durations, but that behavioral frequencies may be underestimated.