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Helping parents know when to seek help for an acutely ill child: Evidence based co-development of a mobile phone app
Sarah Neill1, Natasha Bayes2, Matthew Thompson3
1School of Nursing and Midwifery, Faculty of Health, University of Plymouth, Plymouth, UK.
Insights
Parents need clear guidance on caring for sick children. A new mobile app, co-developed with parents and clinicians, provides evidence-based information on when to seek medical help for young children.
Area of Science:
- Pediatric acute illness management
- Digital health interventions
- Evidence-based healthcare
Background:
- Acute childhood illness is common in children under five, leading to high consultation rates in UK general practice and emergency care.
- Rising consultation numbers raise concerns about parental knowledge and confidence in managing sick children and seeking appropriate help.
- The ASK SNIFF collaboration identified a need for accessible information to guide parents on seeking help for sick children.
Purpose of the Study:
- To co-develop an evidence-based safety netting intervention, specifically a mobile application.
- To assist parents in determining when to seek medical assistance for acutely ill children under five years of age in the UK.
Main Methods:
- A six-year collaborative research program involving 147 parents and 324 health professionals.
- Methods included systematic review, qualitative research, video capture, content development, and consensus methodology.
- Ensured end-product reflects user experiences and needs through parent and expert clinical review.
Main Results:
- Developed evidence-based content for a mobile app, complemented by video clips.
- The collaborative approach ensured the intervention aligns with the expressed needs of parents and clinicians.
- The resulting app content is tailored to support parents in managing acutely ill children.
Conclusions:
- The novel collaborative approach may explain the lack of published impact data for existing UK resources.
- Highlights the importance of co-designing digital health tools with end-users.
- Future mobile health applications should prioritize user involvement in their design and development.
Background:
Acute illness accounts for the majority of episodes of illness in children under five years of age and is the age group with the highest consultation rate in general practice in the UK. The number of children presenting to emergency care is also steadily increasing, having risen beyond pre-pandemic numbers. Such high, and increasing, rates of consultation have prompted concerns about parents' level of knowledge and confidence in caring for their children when they are ill, and particularly when and how to seek help appropriately.
Aim:
The ASK SNIFF collaboration research programme identified parents' need for accurate and accessible information to help them know when to seek help for a sick child in 2010. This paper presents the resulting programme of research which aimed to co-develop an evidence-based safety netting intervention (mobile app) to help parents know when to seek help for an acutely ill child under the age of five years in the UK.
Methods:
Our programme used a collaborative six step process with 147 parent and 324 health professional participants over a period of six years including: scoping existing interventions, systematic review, qualitative research, video capture, content identification and development, consensus methodology, parent and expert clinical review.
Results:
Our programme has produced evidence-based content for an app supported by video clips. Our collaborative approach has supported every stage of our work, ensuring that the end result reflects the experiences, perspectives and expressed needs of parents and the clinicians they consult.
Conclusion:
We have not found any other resource which has used this type of approach, which may explain why there is no published evaluation data demonstrating the impact of existing UK resources. Future mobile apps should be designed and developed with the service users for whom they are intended.
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