e-Participate
IFEED
Calling those Interested in Infant Feeding
Researchers are looking for GPs, health visitors and midwives with an interest in supporting safe infant feeding. Coventry University is leading the development of a new online and mobile resource called ifeed for parents which will support them to make confident infant feeding choices, and support them with sustained breastfeeding and/or safe and responsive bottle feeding. It is essential that ifeed is designed to meet the needs of both parents and health professionals so your opinion is highly valued.
The ifeed research team would like to say a big thank you to all the GPs that offered their time and participated in the first round of telephone interviews. We received some great feedback in relation to the content of the resource as well as guidance on how best to engage mothers as well as fathers and other caregivers. The interviews also reinforced a key focus of ifeed which is to address the importance of bonding with infants for brain development.
Ifeed is now under development and will be available as both a webpage and as a mobile phone application designed for parents, caregivers/ supporters as well as health professionals. The initial pages seen by the user will focus on parent-infant bonding via infant feeding. The prototype website will then allow users to receive personalised information and behaviour change techniques targeted to their role, current situation and feelings around infant feeding, including both breastfeeding and bottle feeding.
The next phase of the study planned for summer this year will involve the completion of a brief online questionnaire and/or telephone interviews to further assess the usability and acceptability of the complete prototype.
If you would like to contribute to the development of the intervention please contact Dr Naomi Bartle at the Centre for Technology Enabled Health Research on 02477655497 or naomi.bartle@coventry.ac.uk
The ifeed study is funded by the Medical Research Council Public Health Intervention Development Scheme (MRC PHIND).