Abstract
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.
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.
| Original language | English |
|---|---|
| Article number | 105459 |
| Number of pages | 6 |
| Journal | International Journal of Medical Informatics |
| Volume | 187 |
| Issue number | July 2024 |
| Early online date | 16 Apr 2024 |
| DOIs | |
| Publication status | Published - 18 Apr 2024 |
Bibliographical note
1386-5056/© 2024 The Author(s). Published by Elsevier B.V. This is an open access article under the CC BY licenseData Access Statement
SN and ML were the originators of the research programme. SN and NB led the collaborative work with parents, supported for specific projects by CS and HSM (see Acknowledgments). The ASK SNIFF parent panel contributed to all but the data collection stages of each project. ML and SN led the systematic review with significant contributions from DR and CS. ML, MT and SN led ASK PIP with data collection support form HSM. CJ contributed to study design, data collection, analysis and publication writing for ASK PIP. SN and ML led ASK SID with CJ and NB contributing to data collection, analysis and report writing and MH mapping clinical guidelines. General practice expertise was provided by MT for ASK SARa, ASK PIP and ASK SID. ASK PETra was led by SN and ML. SN wrote and revised content with input from parents and clinicians via a digital review platform created by OCB Media and NB. General practice expertise was provided by JUS (see Acknowledgements). ASK ViC was led by ML with video capture by MH (see Acknowledgements) and clinical expert video editing by DR. During every project in the programme the core team of SN, ML, MT, and DR contributed to project design, development and delivery, including writing publications. NHS Research and Development support was provided by SPH.Keywords
- Mobile Applications/standards
- Health Medical informatics
- Co-development
- Acute childhood illness
- Parents Safety netting
- co-design
- information resources
