When a baby is born prematurely, parents will be plunged into a situation of uncertainty as the baby’s condition fluctuates, worrying what the future may hold. As well as feeling joy, love and happiness at the birth of your baby, this period can also be extremely stressful and overwhelming.
It is not unusual to feel exhausted, powerless, guilty and even tearful for several months.
The knowledge about parental quality of life is essential to develop family-centred and integrated solutions on prematurity.
However, the evidence is limited.
In collaboration with Singapore KK Women’s and Children’s Hospital, Danone Research & Innovation aims to collect data on sleep, stress and infant nutrition from parents of preterm infants using a chatbot.
“Through interaction with the study chatbot in a conversational manner, we hope that parents can comfortably share their feeling and experience,”
said Jill Wong, digital program manager of Precision Nutrition D-Lab.
The first subject was recruited for Bot Your Emotion (chatbot) study on 13 November.
“The real-life qualitative behaviour data from parents can help us better understand the feelings and emotions of parents with preterm babies in their parenthood journey, so that we can provide better support,”
said Agathe Foussat, digital innovation program leader of Precision Nutrition D-Lab.
Find out more here about the study.
This Saturday, on November 17, it’s World Prematurity Day. The 2018 global motto for World Prematurity Day is ‘Working together: Partnering with families in the care of small and sick newborns’. Approximately 15 million babies are born preterm each year, accounting for about one in 10 of all babies born worldwide. Nutricia is committed to supporting the caregivers as well as the parents and families of preterm babies.