JMIR Pediatrics and Parenting

In the digital age, social networking sites (SNS) have revolutionized the approach to parenting. These platforms, widely used to access parenting information and support, affect parents both positively and negatively, with negative effects potentially increasing for those experiencing loneliness or anxiety.

Managing type 1 diabetes (T1D) in children and adolescents can be difficult for parents, healthcare professionals (HCP), and even patients. However, over the last decades, the quality of services provided to diabetes patients has increased due to advances in information technology.

Concussion, or mild traumatic brain injury, is a growing public health concern, affecting approximately 1.2% of the population annually. Among children 1-17 years, concussion had the highest weighted prevalence compared to other injury types, highlighting the importance of addressing this issue among the youth population.

A smartphone app, Parent Positive, was developed to help parents manage their children’s conduct and emotional problems during the COVID-19 pandemic. A randomized controlled trial, Supporting Parents and Kids Through Lockdown Experiences (SPARKLE), found Parent Positive to be effective in reducing children’s emotional problems. However, app effectiveness may be influenced by a range of child, family, socioeconomic, and pandemic-related factors.

Parenting interventions are crucial for promoting family well-being, reducing violence against children, and improving child development outcomes; however, scaling these programs remains a challenge. Prior reviews have characterized the feasibility, acceptability, and effectiveness of other more robust forms of digital parenting interventions (eg, via the web, mobile apps, and videoconferencing). Recently, chatbot technology has emerged as a possible mode for adapting and delivering parenting programs to larger populations (eg, Parenting for Lifelong Health, Incredible Years, and Triple P Parenting).

In 2021, the United States experienced a 14% rise in fatal drug overdoses totaling 106,699 deaths, driven by harmful opioid use, particularly among individuals in the perinatal period who face increased risks associated with opioid use disorders (OUDs). Increased concerns about the impacts of escalating harmful opioid use among pregnant and postpartum persons are rising. Most of the current limited perinatal OUD studies were conducted using traditional methods, such as interviews and randomized controlled trials to understand OUD treatment, risk factors, and associated adverse effects. However, little is known about how social media data, such as X, formerly known as Twitter, can be leveraged to explore and identify broad perinatal OUD trends, disclosure and communication patterns, and public health surveillance about OUD in the perinatal period.

The rise in internet addiction, including web-based gaming and social networking services, is a serious concern. Even with access to medical institutions and counseling services, individuals with internet addiction, particularly adolescents, often refuse medical treatment or counseling. Parent-focused psychological intervention may lead to positive outcomes by improving the parent-adolescent relationship and helping parents identify and modify their adolescent’s problematic behaviors, including internet addiction.

Universal screening for depression and anxiety in pregnancy has been recommended by several leading medical organizations, but the implementation of such screening protocols may overburden health care systems lacking relevant resources. Text message screening may provide a low-cost, accessible alternative to in-person screening assessments. However, it is critical to understand who is likely to participate in text message–based screening protocols before such approaches can be implemented at the population level.

The significant increase in smart phone ownership has led to a rise in mobile health (mHealth) app use. This type of app aims to improve patient outcomes by reducing barriers to recovery through various features. Developing tailored features through mHealth apps creates a pathway to address healthcare needs of pediatric cancer patients and their families who have complex care needs. However, few apps are designed specifically to integrate with pediatric cancer care.

Transition from pediatric to adult health care varies and is resource intensive. Patient-centered health information technology (HIT) interventions are increasingly being developed in partnership with patients.

Child and Family Health Nursing (CFHN) services provide universal care to families during the first 2000 days (conception: 5 years) to support optimal health and developmental outcomes of children in New South Wales, Australia. The use of technology represents a promising means to encourage family engagement with CFHN services and enable universal access to evidenced-based age and stage information. Currently, there is little evidence exploring the acceptability of various models of technology-based support provided during the first 2000 days, as well as the maternal characteristics that may influence this.

Studies show an enhanced increase in children’s weight and body mass index (BMI) during the COVID-19 pandemic’s mitigation measures to reduce the transmission of the disease. Studies reported that this is due to a decrease in physical activity and an increase in energy intake. As overweight and obesity are a major worldwide problem beyond the pandemic context, the situation during COVID-19 pandemic has increased its severity even more. A higher BMI has direct correlations with several health disadvantages such as cardiovascular diseases, musculosceletal disorders and mental health diseases. Therefore, it is of vital importance to develop counteracting interventions to maintain our children´s health even during such exceptional situations like a pandemic. However, worldwide data of such interventions is limited and to our knowledge, there is no other comparable study carried out during a pandemic in Austria so far.