Baby Buddy App — Early Years Starter Kit

Overview

Developed by UK charity Best Beginnings, the Baby Buddy app is a free National Health Service-approved interactive pregnancy and parenting app. It is available in the UK, with adaptations being piloted in Cyprus, Greece, and Australia and provides daily bite-sized information and advice from pregnancy through the first year of baby’s life for mothers, fathers, and caregivers.

The app also provides information about local maternity services, a library of short insightful videos, allows a space for personal health and well-being plans, and for recording baby’s growth, vaccinations, and developmental milestones. It also includes a 24-/7 text messaging service, in collaboration with SHOUT for parents experiencing distress, overwhelm and in need of urgent support.

The app was developed to support low-literacy communities and families at risk of poor health and social outcomes (e.g., younger parents, low education and income, racial and ethnic minorities) and there are contextualized resources for fathers, caregivers of premature or sick babies and also for families who have experienced abuse, violence and trauma . Best Beginnings utilizes a parent panel to develop and test content for the app, along with expert feedback, and collaborates with local health services to encourage its use.

Active since 2014

Developer Best Beginnings

How it works

Baby Buddy was first released in 2014 and the latest version, 2.0 was made available in 2021. It:

Allows users to select an “avatar” when signing up for the app who is a virtual friend/baby expert who appears across the app and narrates the content. Each day, parents and caregivers receive daily tips based on the stage of pregnancy or age of child (parents can create profiles for multiple children). These tips cover a range of topics and may focus on, for example, health and nutrition during pregnancy, immunizations, breastfeeding, and postpartum depression. A video library complements these daily tips to further illustrate advice.
Places emphasis on providing tips related to caregiver mental health and offers a 24 hour text messaging service to provide specific support.

Reach and relevance

Users
400,000+
Over 400,000 people have signed in and made accounts through Baby Buddy. Baby Buddy 2.0 has reached 60,000 users in the course of 1 year, with about 2 million active app sessions (referring to instances where a user opens the app and completes an activity).
Country of origin
- United Kingdom
Active countries
UK, Greece, Cyprus, Australia
Language
- English
Dissemination strategy
Baby Buddy partners with local NHS trusts and Clinical Commissioning Groups , which organize and provide health care in particular localities, and Integrated Care Boards (ICB), local partnerships of health care service providers and community partners, in the UK. Thus, 60-70% of users learn about Baby Buddy through their healthcare providers and midwives. Others learn about the app through browsing the app store or upon recommendation from friends.

Technology and access

Baby Buddy 2.0 can be accessed through a smartphone or tablet. Some content is available offline and can be downloaded and viewed when internet connectivity is unavailable. An earlier version of the app was available on the web for those without smartphones, and plans are underway to make Baby Buddy 2.0 similarly accessible.

Connectivity requirements
- Partial or full offline functionality Tool content can be accessed offline once downloaded.
Device types
Cost model
- Free The tool is available at no charge to the user.

Measurement

Baby Buddy collects information through analysis of in-app data informing the reach, uptake and usage of the app amongst parents and healthcare professionals; in-app surveys from all different types of users on a variety of topics related to pregnancy, birth and labor and early parenthood period; qualitative data from users from reviews, email feedback; qualitative data from the parents and other networks to ensure the app content is relevant and accessible; and feedback with local health trusts through implementation cycles. In specific, Baby Buddy collects qualitative feedback from users including through surveys and engagement with a 300+ voluntary Parent Panel. This Parent Panel provides ongoing feedback as the team works to develop new content and features.

Baby Buddy has collected data on the overall impact of the app to inform its future development. The app has also been the subject of independent evaluation in collaboration with academic researchers. In particular, an independent mixed-methods study on the experiences of Baby Buddy app during the covid-19 pandemic found that parents faced increase anxiety related to pregnancy and birth. 97% of respondents reported that Baby Buddy was supporting them and that it was increasingly relevant given limited contact with healthcare providers during this period.

Partnerships

Best Beginnings utilizes a co-creation methodology with community-level healthcare teams to promote the app and integrate it into existing programs. These partners include local NHS trusts, Clinical Commissioning Groups, and Integrated Care Boards. The app has been accredited by the NHS.

Initial funding was received by the National Community Lottery Fund to develop, design, and implement the app. Additional funding has been received through private foundations.

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