Mobile applications as a strategy to support parents in the care of newborns: a scoping review.
Juliane Pagliari Araujo, Adriana Martins Gallo, Cristina Maria Garcia de Lima Parada and 4 others
PMID 37494035WHAT IT FOUND
Nurses can guide parents to existing newborn care apps for daily care and breastfeeding, but most lack evidence of effectiveness.
Only 4% include audiovisual resources, and many parents find video demonstrations of procedures disturbing rather than helpful.
Key findings
01The review mapped 16 studies and 150 applications focused on supporting parents of newborns, with themes including daily care, breastfeeding, fever, and growth.
02Most apps address daily care tasks like bathing and feeding, but evidence for their effectiveness is lacking, with studies focusing mainly on feasibility and acceptability.
03While audiovisual resources are important, only 4% of selected apps included them, and parents reported that watching videos of newborn procedures could be disturbing.
STILL TO COME
How it was doneWhat they foundWhat it means for RNs
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What it does not show
Scoping reviews do not assess the quality of evidence, so the strength of findings from the included studies is unknown. App store search results can vary by device, operating system, and time, potentially missing relevant apps. Most included studies focused on feasibility and acceptability, not effectiveness, limiting conclusions about whether these apps actually improve care or outcomes.
Declared interests
The authors declared no conflicts of interest. The study analyzed publicly available data and secondary sources.
The easy way to misread this
Do not assume these apps are proven to improve newborn health outcomes. The review highlights a lack of effectiveness studies, meaning most apps are supported by feasibility and acceptability data only.