Smartphone Application for Breastfeeding Education in Medical Students

Medical Education Clinical Trial

Official title:

Efficacy of a Smartphone App for a Breastmilk Feeding Course Among Sixth Year Medical Students

Clinical Trial Details — Status: Completed

Administrative data

• NCT number: NCT04536896
• Other study ID #: PE18-00005
• Status: Completed
• Phase: N/A
• Start date: July 31, 2018
• Est. completion date: December 15, 2019

Study information

• Verified date: August 2020
• Source: Universidad Autonoma de Nuevo Leon
• Contact: n/a
• Is FDA regulated: No
• Study type: Interventional

Clinical Trial Summary

The purpose of this study was to compare the efficacy of two educational interventions to enhance breastfeeding knowledge among senior medical students. One intervention consisted of a traditional face-to-face teaching lecture and the other consisted of the use of a smartphone application containing information about breastfeeding.

Description:

A quasi-experimental study was performed. Students were allocated to two groups; the first group underwent a 6-hour face-to-face breastfeeding course which was divided in four 1.5-hour sessions during a time span of two weeks. The second intervention consisted of downloading a digital smartphone application designed by the research team to teach proper breastfeeding concepts which participants freely navigated during the same time span of two weeks. Before and after each intervention, students answered a general breastfeeding knowledge test consisting of twenty multiple choice answers with a score range of 0 to 20. Statistical comparisons between pre- and post-test scores were performed in each group and mean change in scores was compared between them to establish which method was the most efficient. Moreover, amount of time spent on the application was descriptively measured.

Recruitment information / eligibility

• Status: Completed
• Enrollment: 438
• Est. completion date: December 15, 2019
• Est. primary completion date: July 31, 2019
• Accepts healthy volunteers: Accepts Healthy Volunteers
• Gender: All
• Age group: 18 Years and older

Eligibility

Inclusion Criteria:

• Senior adult medical students of any gender who at the time were enrolled on the Pediatrics biannual course during the July 2018 th -July 2019 th academic period.

• Provide verbal informed consent

• At least 18 years old

Exclusion Criteria:

• Students who did not possess an electronic device (smartphone or tablet) or decided not to participate in the study.

• Rate of non-attendance to the general pediatric course greater than 50%

Related Conditions & MeSH terms

• Medical Education

Intervention

Other:
• Smartphone breastfeeding application
This intervention consists of a smartphone application which contains relevant information and topics regarding proper breastfeeding knowledge for medical students.
• Traditional face-to-face breastfeeding lecture
This intervention consists of the impartition of a face-to-face breastfeeding course

Locations

Country	Name	City	State
Mexico	Facultad de Medicina, Universidad Autonoma de Nuevo Leon	Monterrey	Nuevo Leon

Sponsors (1)

Lead Sponsor	Collaborator
Universidad Autonoma de Nuevo Leon

Country where clinical trial is conducted

Mexico, 

References & Publications (15)

Anjum Q, Ashfaq T, Siddiqui H. Knowledge regarding breastfeeding practices among medical students of Ziauddin University Karachi. J Pak Med Assoc. 2007 Oct;57(10):480-3. — View Citation

Arthur CR, Saenz RB, Replogle WH. Personal breast-feeding behaviors of female physicians in Mississippi. South Med J. 2003 Feb;96(2):130-5. — View Citation

Brudenell I, Carpenter CS. Adult learning styles and attitudes toward computer assisted instruction. J Nurs Educ. 1990 Feb;29(2):79-83. — View Citation

Caminha Mde F, Serva VB, dos Anjos MM, Brito RB, Lins MM, Batista Filho M. [Exclusive breastfeeding among professionals in a Family Healthcare Program]. Cien Saude Colet. 2011 Apr;16(4):2245-50. Portuguese. — View Citation

Davidson LK. A 3-year experience implementing blended TBL: active instructional methods can shift student attitudes to learning. Med Teach. 2011;33(9):750-3. doi: 10.3109/0142159X.2011.558948. Epub 2011 May 19. — View Citation

de Almeida JM, Luz Sde A, Ued Fda V. [Support of breastfeeding by health professionals: integrative review of the literature]. Rev Paul Pediatr. 2015 Jul-Sep;33(3):356-63. doi: 10.1016/j.rpped.2014.10.002. Epub 2015 Jun 10. Review. Portuguese. — View Citation

Dykes F. The education of health practitioners supporting breastfeeding women: time for critical reflection. Matern Child Nutr. 2006 Oct;2(4):204-16. — View Citation

Freed GL, Clark SJ, Sorenson J, Lohr JA, Cefalo R, Curtis P. National assessment of physicians' breast-feeding knowledge, attitudes, training, and experience. JAMA. 1995 Feb 8;273(6):472-6. — View Citation

Gary AJ, Birmingham EE, Jones LB. Improving breastfeeding medicine in undergraduate medical education: A student survey and extensive curriculum review with suggestions for improvement. Educ Health (Abingdon). 2017 May-Aug;30(2):163-168. doi: 10.4103/efh.EfH_180_15. — View Citation

Hall Moran V, Edwards J, Dykes F, Downe S. A systematic review of the nature of support for breast-feeding adolescent mothers. Midwifery. 2007 Jun;23(2):157-71. Epub 2006 Oct 18. Review. — View Citation

Hoddinott P, Pill R, Chalmers M. Health professionals, implementation and outcomes: reflections on a complex intervention to improve breastfeeding rates in primary care. Fam Pract. 2007 Feb;24(1):84-91. Epub 2006 Dec 7. — View Citation

Krupat E, Richards JB, Sullivan AM, Fleenor TJ Jr, Schwartzstein RM. Assessing the Effectiveness of Case-Based Collaborative Learning via Randomized Controlled Trial. Acad Med. 2016 May;91(5):723-9. doi: 10.1097/ACM.0000000000001004. — View Citation

Lynch TG, Steele DJ, Johnson Palensky JE, Lacy NL, Duffy SW. Learning preferences, computer attitudes, and test performance with computer-aided instruction. Am J Surg. 2001 Apr;181(4):368-71. — View Citation

Silvestre PK, Carvalhaes MA, Venâncio SI, Tonete VL, Parada CM. Breastfeeding knowledge and practice of health professionals in public health care services. Rev Lat Am Enfermagem. 2009 Nov-Dec;17(6):953-60. — View Citation

Yang SF, Salamonson Y, Burns E, Schmied V. Breastfeeding knowledge and attitudes of health professional students: a systematic review. Int Breastfeed J. 2018 Feb 20;13:8. doi: 10.1186/s13006-018-0153-1. eCollection 2018. Review. — View Citation

* Note: There are 15 references in all — Click here to view all references

Outcome

Type	Measure	Description	Time frame	Safety issue
Primary	Efficacy of each breastfeeding course evaluated by a quantitative general knowledge questionnaire	In order to measure this outcome, all participants answered a test consisting of a quantitative questionnaire of general breastfeeding knowledge before and after the intervention. This general knowledge test consisted of twenty questions with multiple choice answers ranging between two to five possible answers according to the nature of the question. It was designed by study researchers which included specialists in Pediatrics and breastfeeding and it was based solely on the course content. Minimum and maximum scores were 0 and 20, where a higher score indicated a better grade on the test. Central tendency and dispersion measures were obtained for pre- and post-test scores and a further statistical comparison between this parameters indicated whether there was a statistically significant difference. If the post-test score was statistically superior to the pre-test score, it was concluded that the intervention was efficient to improve breastfeeding knowledge.	14 days
Secondary	Comparison of the efficacy of each breastfeeding course by comparison of mean differences	In order to measure this outcome, a mean difference between the post-test and pre-test scores was obtained for each group. Furthermore, these mean differences were compared to establish if the mean improvement in test scores was different between both interventions. If the mean change of one intervention was statistically superior to the other, it was assumed that the former intervention was more efficient to promote breastfeeding knowledge. On the contrary, if no statistical differences between the effects of both interventions on test scores were observed, it was assumed that no intervention was superior to the other.	14 days
Secondary	Amount of time in minutes spent on the smartphone application	Study researchers had access to the amount of time in minutes that each student dedicated to studying on the smartphone application. Descriptive statistics with central and dispersion tendencies were obtained to evaluate this outcome.	14 days