CASE STUDY
A mobile app to support the mental health of neonatal parents using evidence-based, compassion-focused psychological techniques
MIND-BODY INTEGRATION
THEME
UNMET NEED
Parents with a newborn admitted to the neonatal unit experience significantly higher rates of mental health difficulties. There is a need for evidence-based psychological support for parents with a newborn in the neonatal unit as this experience poses a unique set of challenges.
PROJECT CONCEPT / SOLUTION
This project aimed to develop the existing maternal support app, Canopie, and tailor it for parents with a newborn in the neonatal unit using a compassion-based approach.
NIHR Children and Young People MedTech Co-operative (NIHR CYP MedTech, now known as the NIHR HealthTech Research Centre (HRC) in Paediatrics and Child Health) supported the organisation behind the app and facilitated a focus group with parents who had lived experience to help shape the content of the app to ensure it met the needs of parents.
The team has successfully expanded existing mental health support for parents by creating new content in the app, including short exercises, animations, and voice overs.
SUPPORT PROVIDED
PROJECT MANAGEMENT
One of our project managers was assigned to this project to provide oversight of day-to-day activities and PPIE aspects to ensure key deadlines and deliverables were achieved.
PATIENT AND PUBLIC INVOLVEMENT AND ENGAGEMENT
Our team provided support and expertise in the planning, recruitment, and facilitation of a parent focus group.
FUNDING
Our team provided proof of concept funding over a 12 month period.
FUNDING
Funding for this project was provided by NIHR CYP MedTech proof of concept funding scheme.
STAGE OF DEVELOPMENT
BEFORE SUPPORT
BASIC IDEA
CONCEPT DEVELOPMENT
PROTOTYPE DEVELOPMENT
PROTOTYPE VALIDATION
CLINICAL TESTING
REGULATORY APPROVAL
MANUFACTURING
COMMERCIALLY / PUBLICLY AVAILABLE
CURRENT STAGE
BASIC IDEA
CONCEPT DEVELOPMENT
PROTOTYPE DEVELOPMENT
PROTOTYPE VALIDATION
CLINICAL TESTING
REGULATORY APPROVAL
MANUFACTURING
COMMERCIALLY / PUBLICLY AVAILABLE
POTENTIAL IMPACT
The project team has taken a compassion-focused and evidence-based approach to an underserved parent population. By reaching out to neonatal parents and actively taking their feedback and ideas on board throughout the project, this app will be able to provide much needed support to parents with similar lived experience in the future.
Additionally, the clinical psychologists from the Canopie team presented this project at the Child Health Technology conference in 2023 and shared their work with a global community of innovators in paediatrics. This achievement has amplified the need for innovation in parental mental health to an international, cross-sector audience.
NEXT STEPS
The project team are seeking additional funding to further develop the Canopie app and improve the accessibility of its content to address health inequalities.
The team are also working towards translating content within the app into several key languages.
PARTNERS