A Comparative Study of Face-to-Face and Nonahal App education on Weight Gain and Mother-Infant Attachment in premature neonatal hospitalized in NICU

Background Supporting the family and educating the parents helps them in taking care of their infants. Recent developments in mobile technology have created many opportunities to enhance people's health and welfare. The purpose of the study was to compare face-to-face education and education through Nonahal mobile app on neonatal weight gain and mother-neonate attachment in the NICU. Method: The study was a quasi-experimental intervention carried out on 70 mothers and infants admitted to the NICU of Hajar Hospital in Shahrekord in Iran. The subjects were selected by convenient sampling method and were randomly assigned to in two groups: face-to-face education and application education. Weighing the infants and completing the Avant questionnaires by mothers were carried out before and after the intervention. Data was analyzed in SPSS 18 and using descriptive and analytical statistics. Findings: There was no significant difference between the two groups of application and face-to-face training after the intervention in weight gain and attachment between mother and newborn and its subscales. Infants’ Weight increased significantly in both groups compare to before after intervention [p≤0.001]., however, attachment score and care subscale improved in app group [p≤0.05]. Conclusion: Our results indicated that there was no significant difference between the two groups of application and face-to-face training after the intervention. Both methods can be used depending on cost and effectiveness