Developing and testing a mobile application for breastfeeding support: The Milky Way application.

BACKGROUND: Supporting women to continue breastfeeding is a global challenge. The Milky Way Program is an effective face to face intervention to increase breastfeeding rates up to six months postpartum. The sustainability and access to the Milky Way Program could be enhanced by transforming it into a mobile application allowing women to access relevant information from their own place at a convenient time. AIM: To explore the process of transforming the Milky Way Program into an acceptable and usable mobile health application. METHOD: Stakeholders including multidisciplinary researchers and end-users designed the application based on the Milky Way Program by using Persuasive System Design principles. A mixed-method approach was used in the development and evaluation process. Seven women were recruited through convenience sampling to pilot test the application. The women's feedback was collected through an online survey six weeks after birth and individual interviews at four months postpartum. FINDINGS: Women in the pilot study reported that the breastfeeding application was well designed, easy to use, interactive, reassuring and evidence-based with credible sources of information. CONCLUSION: The Persuasive System Design model combined with end-user engagement can feasibly inform the development of an acceptable and usable mobile health application for breastfeeding based on a proven clinical intervention. Further rigorous testing is required to evaluate the effectiveness of the application on breastfeeding initiation and duration.

Enhancing user acceptance of mandated mobile health information systems: the ePOC (electronic point-of-care project) experience.

From a clinical perspective, the use of mobile technologies, such as Personal Digital Assistants (PDAs) within hospital environments is not new. A paradigm shift however is underway towards the acceptance and utility of these systems within mobile-based healthcare environments. Introducing new technologies and associated work practices has intrinsic risks which must be addressed. This paper contends that intervening to address user concerns as they arise throughout the system development lifecycle will lead to greater levels of user acceptance, while ultimately enhancing the deliverability of a system that provides a best fit with end user needs. It is envisaged this research will lead to the development of a formalised user acceptance framework based on an agile approach to user acceptance measurement. The results of an ongoing study of user perceptions towards a mandated electronic point-of-care information system in the Northern Illawarra Ambulatory Care Team (TACT) are presented.