(P28-036-23) mHealth App of the Responsive Feeding Practices Assessment Tool (m-RFPAT); Promoting Early Childhood Development

Objectives: Responsive parenting directly impacts early childhood development and is currently highlighted in the global agenda of early childhood growth and development in the "nurturing care" concept. Responsive parenting principles can also be applied to the feeding context. Responsive feeding (RF) is a four-step process that is an attentive way of feeding infants and young children. E-health is an emerging field, and it can be considered a web-enabled system that improves health-related awareness, health conditions, and healthy behaviors. However, according to the literature, the RF method is not highly focused in communities in low-and-middle-income countries. Therefore, this study aimed to develop a mobile health application for the current published responsive feeding practices assessment tool (RFPAT) in Sri Lanka.

Methods: The RFPAT has been developed using standard questionnaire development techniques. The m-health application for the RFPAT (m-RFPAT) was developed based on the hybrid mobile application development platform and supported both android and IOS operating systems. NoSQL was used to build the database because it is easy to handle and implement using the cloud. The application back end was designed using the java programming language. Here, the sketch toolkit was used to design the UI/UX design interface. The m-RFPAT can be downloaded simply through the,

https://www.mediafire.com/file/z5qib8t4thd4k8v/RFPAT_app_v1.2.1.apk/file

or https://drive.google.com/file/d/1AIA8sAmtkce-QaXQo-txcRSN1PKJl_a9/view?usp=share_link

The downloading process and procedures for app use can be viewed at

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OrOaKHuDGNQ

Results: The m-RFPAT will be conducive to assessing the RF practices among caregivers, and there is an intervention section at the end of the questions/items that directs the app users to a blog of various supporting materials on RF. The m-RFPAT is a user-friendly and interactive mobile app.

Conclusions: The self-evaluation through this app will help caregivers to understand their level of RF practice and change their feeding behavior based on the given supportive information. These behavioral changes promote three major development dimensions among children in early childhood. However, it is essential to verify the effectiveness of this app as an intervention.

Funding Sources: No