Feasibility and acceptability of mobile technologies to collect child behavior data in the Kathmandu valley

The hypothesis was that by providing caregivers in low-resource settings with insight into their household and their children’s day to day lives, the caregiver could become more aware of the child’s environment and thus implement changes to bolster the child’s development. The project was run in two countries – Nepal and South Africa – in parallel. In the first phase, in order to address the most contextually relevant and ethically protective devices, a qualitative study that assessed the feasibility, acceptability, and utility of six different devices was completed. Data was collected through Focus Group Discussions and Key Informant Interviews with Female Community Health Volunteers (FCHVs) and caregivers about the use of sensing technologies in the home. The following were the seven devices discussed with the participants:

1. Continuous stream video recorder
2. Time-lapse video recorder
3. Narrative Clip
4. Continuous stream audio recorder
5. Episodic audio recorder
6. Environmental Sensor
7. Bluetooth enabled proximity beacons

In the second phase, two of the devices (which emerged as best from Phase 1) were pilot tested. The pilot allowed to evaluate the feasibility and acceptability of having these devices in the home and gave evidence for their potential usefulness in giving feedback to caregivers about the way their child sees the world in relation to how they parent their children.

Objectives:

1. To determine the feasibility and acceptability of different m-Health sensing technologies that can be used in low-resource settings
2. To pilot test the technology to evaluate the feasibility of the platform to collect information on caregiver investment and package the information in a way that is useful for community health workers to provide tailored feedback.

Target group:

First phase: Community health workers and families who receive services from community health workers

Second phase: Two to five years old children and their families

Implementation area:

First phase: Three VDCs of Kathmandu (Sankhu, Manmaiju & Phutung)

Second phase: Lubhu, Lalitpur

Time frame:

First phase: November 2016 to December 2017

Second phase: 1st March 2018 to 31st August 2018

Supported by:

Jacobs Foundation, Zurich, Switzerland

HeartMind International

https://jacobsfoundation.org/en/

http://heartmindinternational.org/

Publication:

1. Procedures to Select Digital Sensing Technologies for Passive Data Collection With Children and Their Caregivers: Qualitative Cultural Assessment in South Africa and Nepal