JMIR Pediatrics and Parenting

The first 1000 days of a child’s life, spanning from the time of conception until 2 years of age, are a key period of laying down the foundations of optimum health, growth, and development across the lifespan. Although the role of health prevention programs targeting families and children in the first 1000 days of life is well-recognized, investments in this key period are scarce and the provision of adequate health care services is insufficient. The aim of this viewpoint is to provide a holistic digital health framework cocreated with policymakers, health care professionals and families to support more effective efforts and health care programs dedicated to the first 1000 days of life as the first line of prevention. The framework provides recommendations for leveraging on behavioral intervention technology and digital therapeutics solutions augmented by Artificial Intelligence to support the effective deployment of health prevention programs to families. The framework also encourages the adoption of a citizen science approach to co-design and evolve the digital health interventions with all relevant stakeholders in a real-world research perspective.

Children’s Screen time has substantially increased worldwide, including in Bangladesh, especially since the pandemic, which is raising concern about its potential adverse effect on child physical, mental, and social health. Parental supervision may play a crucial role in mitigating these negative impacts. However, there is a lack of empirical evidence assessing the relationship between parental screen time supervision and health outcomes among school children in Dhaka, Bangladesh.

Sudden unexpected infant death (SUID) is a leading cause of death for US infants, and non-recommended sleep practices are reported in most of these deaths. SUID rates have not declined over the past 20 years despite significant educational efforts. Integration of prenatal safe sleep and breastfeeding education into a pregnancy app may be one approach to engaging pregnant individuals in education about infant care practices prior to childbirth.

Preteen girls of lower socioeconomic position are at increased risk of physical inactivity. Parental support, particularly from mothers, is positively correlated with girls’ physical activity levels. Consequently, family-based interventions are recognized as a promising approach to improve young people’s physical activity. However, the effects of these interventions on girls’ physical activity are often inconsistent, with calls for more rigorous, theory-informed, and co-designed family-based interventions to promote physical activity in this cohort.

Globally, 10% of pregnant women and 13% of postpartum women experience mental disorders. In Bangladesh, nearly 50% of mothers face common mental disorders, but mental health services and trained professionals to serve their needs are scarce. To address this, the government of Bangladesh’s Non-Communicable Disease Control program initiated “Wellbeing Centers,” telemental health services in selected public hospitals.

Mental health problems among adolescents are increasing, and internet-delivered acceptance and commitment therapy (iACT) constitutes a possible way to improve access to care while reducing costs. Nevertheless, few studies have investigated iACT for adolescents in regular primary care nor the role of parental support.

Young people and families endure protracted waits for specialist mental health support in the UK. Staff shortages and limited resources have led many organizations to develop digital platforms to improve access to support. myHealthE is a digital platform used by families referred to Child and Adolescent Mental Health Services in South London. It was initially designed to improve the collection of routine outcome measures and subsequently the ‘virtual waiting room’ module was added which includes information about child and adolescent mental health as well as signposting to supportive services. However, little is known about the acceptability or use of digital resources, such as myHealthE, or about sociodemographic inequalities affecting access to these resources.

In today’s digital society, the acquisition of parenting information through online platforms such as social networking sites (SNSs) has become widespread. Amid the mix of online and offline information sources, there is a need to discover effective information-seeking methods for solving parenting problems.

Since the COVID-19 pandemic, telemedicine has been widely integrated into primary care pediatrics. While initial studies showed some concern for disparities in telemedicine use, telemedicine uptake for pediatric patients in a low-income, primarily Latino community over a sustained period has yet to be described.

The increasing need for child care is placing a burden on parents, including those with autistic children.

There is a lack of studies examining the long-term outcomes of internet-based parent training programs implemented in clinical settings during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Preventive interventions are needed to provide targeted health support to adolescents to improve health behaviours. Engaging adolescents in preventive interventions remains a challenge, highlighting the need for innovative recruitment strategies. Given adolescents’ lives are intertwined with digital technologies, attention should be focused on these avenues for recruitment. The evolving nature of clinical trials, including the emergence of virtual clinical trials, require new recruitment approaches, which must be evaluated.