JMIR Pediatrics and Parenting

This Research Letter addresses the trends, patterns, and potential health disparities in healthcare utilization among children with medical complexity before and during COVID pandemic, through a retrospective chart review study. Our findings show significant differences in the average number of visits per patient over the years and support the adoption of telehealth consultation while being cautious about demographic disparities.

Evolving societal trends are resulting in fathers having an increasing influence on the health-related behaviors that children develop. Research shows that most fathers are committed to their role and when equipped with knowledge, can have a positive impact on their child’s health. However, parenting resources typically target mothers, with fathers being excluded. While evolving mobile phone technology provides an efficient means for delivering parenting resources, many fathers find that mobile health (mHealth) technology does not provide material they can engage with.

Parents of preschool-aged children are a key focus for interventions to shape healthy lifestyle behaviors and support risk reduction for obesity from an early age. In light of limited existing evidence on the use of mobile technology to promote healthy lifestyle behaviors among young children, we sought to gather parental priorities regarding a mobile app focused on guided goal setting across the domains of diet, physical activity, media use, and sleep.

Offering contraceptive methods at pharmacies without a prescription is an innovative solution to reduce the incidence of unintended pregnancies among adolescents and young adults (AYA). Pharmacy-prescribed contraception may increase the convenience, simplicity, and affordability of contraceptives.

Increasing opioid and other substance use has led to a crisis of epidemic proportions with substance use now a leading cause of US maternal morbidity and mortality. Interventions will only be effective if those who would benefit are identified early and connected to care. Apps are a ubiquitous source of pregnancy information, but their utility as a platform for evaluating substance use during pregnancy is unknown.

As adolescents increasingly engage with digital experiences, the internet serves as a platform for social interaction, entertainment, and learning. The COVID-19 pandemic accelerated this trend, with remote learning and restricted physical interactions driving changes in internet behavior. Adolescents spent more time on gaming and social media, reflecting a notable shift in use patterns.

Children with developmental language disorder (DLD) often experience language difficulties that hinder their ability to acquire emotional competence. Poor emotional competence is associated with emotional and behavioral problems in young children.

Children with medical complexity represent a unique pediatric population requiring extensive health care needs and care coordination. Children with medical complexities have multiple significant chronic health problems that affect multiple organ systems and result in functional limitations and high health care needs or use. Often, there is a need for medical technology and total care for activities of daily living, much of which is provided at home by family and caregivers. Health IT (HIT) is a broad term that includes various technologies, such as patient portals, telemedicine, and mobile health apps. These tools can improve the care of children with medical complexity by enhancing communication, information exchange, medical safety, care coordination, and shared decision-making. In this study, we identified children with medical complexity as children aged <21 years who have >3 chronic health conditions. Community caregivers contribute to the care management of children with medical complexity, serving as advocates and coordinators, primary sources of information about children’s needs, and facilitators of access to care. They are often the first point of contact for the families of children with medical complexity, particularly in vulnerable communities, including families in rural areas, low-income households, and non–English-speaking immigrant populations.

This pilot study of the redesigned Resilience Clinic (a group-based, psychoeducational intervention designed to promote relational health and child/family resilience) provides preliminary evidence that participation in this resilience intervention is associated with decreased caregiver stress and anxiety and child behavior concerns.

Type 1 diabetes (T1D) management requires following a complex and constant regimen relying on child/caregiver behaviors, skills, and knowledge. Psychological factors such as diabetes distress (DD), depression, and burnout are pertinent considerations in the treatment of pediatric T1D. Approximately 40% of youth and 61% of caregivers experience DD. Implementation of DD screening as part of clinical best practice is recommended and may facilitate treatment referral, perhaps leading to improved health/wellbeing for youth with T1D and their caregivers. By building on existing institutional infrastructure when available, screening via digital health platforms (applications, or “apps”) may allow for timely screening of, and response to, DD.

Caregivers of children with growth hormone deficiency often face emotional challenges (eg, stress) associated with their children’s health conditions. This psychological burden might affect children’s adherence to treatment and hinder their health-related quality of life (HrQoL). This assumption is leading to seriously considering multidimensional clinical approaches to pediatric health conditions where the emotional well-being of caregivers should be accounted for to optimize children’s health outcomes. Novel mobile health (mHealth) solutions based on emotional and behavioral change techniques can play a promising role because they are increasingly used within different health areas to support adaptive psychological functioning. However, whether and how mHealth solutions of this type of emotional well-being support caregivers of children with growth-related problems is an issue that needs to be clarified.

The increasing prevalence of physical inactivity and insufficient sleep in adolescents likely contributes to worsening cardiometabolic and mental health. However, obtaining accurate behavioral measures is a challenge. Consumer wearable devices offer a user-friendly method to assess physical activity and sleep.