Digital tools as parental support – how should they be provided to meet the needs of expecting and new parents?

Digital tools as parental support – how should they be provided to meet the needs of expecting and new parents? An interventional study with both qualitative and quantitative methods and a longitudinal design

Status

Active, not recruiting

Phases

Unknown

Study type

Observational

Source

ISRCTN

Registry ID

ISRCTN18017741

Enrollment

130

Registered

2020-10-02

Start date

2020-06-01

Completion date

Unknown

Last updated

2026-01-05

For informational purposes only — not medical advice. Sourced from public registries and may not reflect the latest updates. Terms

Conditions

Sense of coherence, perceived quality of parental couple relationship, social support Other

Interventions

For the interventions, two different serious games are to be explored: (1) Childbirth Journey, and (2) Interplay. All participants will receive one of the two serious games, depending on which part of

Eligibility

Sex/Gender

All

Inclusion criteria

Inclusion criteria: 1. Expecting and new parents within the study setting (A & B) 2. Healthcare professionals at antenatal units and within family counselling within the study setting (C) 3. Expecting and new parents within Sweden (D)

Exclusion criteria

Exclusion criteria: 1. Parents with a lack of ability in speaking, reading or understanding Swedish (B & D) or English language (A) 2. Parents or healthcare professionals who do not have access to mobile phones that enable the digital parental support to be used (B & C: Intervention Interplay & D) 3. Parents or professionals with severe visual impairment or other physical disorder that would prevent them to use touch feature on mobile phones (B & C: Intervention Interplay & D) 4. Single parents or parental couples in which only one of the parents agrees to participate (B & D)

Design outcomes

Primary

Measure	Time frame
Qualitative outcomes (study A-C): 1. Parents’ experiences from and user behaviour in Childbirth Journey (A) 2. Parents’ experiences from and user behaviour in Interplay (B) 3. Healthcare professionals’ experiences in Childbirth Journey and Interplay (C) Qualitative data from interviews with parents and professionals will be collected two weeks after they received the intervention. The qualitative data from interviews with parents and professionals will be analyzed using phenomenography (Sjöström & Dahlgren, 2002) and content analysis (Graneheim, Lindgren, & Lundman, 2017). Quantitative outcomes (study D) collected at baseline (T1) and six months after (T2): 1. Sense of coherence measured using the SOC-13 2. Social support measured using the Multidimensional Perceived Social Support Scale (MSPSS) 3. Quality of the parental couple relationship measured using the Quality of dyadic relationship scale QDR 36	—

Measure

Time frame

Qualitative outcomes (study A-C): 1. Parents’ experiences from and user behaviour in Childbirth Journey (A) 2. Parents’ experiences from and user behaviour in Interplay (B) 3. Healthcare professionals’ experiences in Childbirth Journey and Interplay (C) Qualitative data from interviews with parents and professionals will be collected two weeks after they received the intervention. The qualitative data from interviews with parents and professionals will be analyzed using phenomenography (Sjöström & Dahlgren, 2002) and content analysis (Graneheim, Lindgren, & Lundman, 2017). Quantitative outcomes (study D) collected at baseline (T1) and six months after (T2): 1. Sense of coherence measured using the SOC-13 2. Social support measured using the Multidimensional Perceived Social Support Scale (MSPSS) 3. Quality of the parental couple relationship measured using the Quality of dyadic relationship scale QDR 36

—

Secondary

Measure	Time frame
There are no secondary outcome measures	—

Countries

Sweden

Contacts

Public ContactCaroline Bäckström

caroline.backstrom@his.se+46 (0)500448442

Outcome results

None listed

Source: ISRCTN (via WHO ICTRP) · Data processed: Feb 14, 2026