Online Collaborative Approach of Interactive Antenatal Lectures for Expectant Mothers

Abstract

Antenatal classes are sometimes called parentcraft which help to prepare expectant mothers for their baby's birth, feeding the baby and to look after the baby. It is the best way to ensure expectant mothers stay healthy during pregnancy as well as to deliver confidence and information. This paper looks into the current state of antenatal education. It investigates the way antenatal classes are accessed by expectant mothers, the challenges they face in getting access to these classes and their attitudes towards these classes. For most women, it could be stressful and very inconvenient to attend physical antenatal classes. An online collaborative approach of interactive antenatal lecture for expectant mothers is proposed to replace these classes by providing live streaming lectures, discussion and interactive sessions between users. In order to accomplish this task, some face-to-face interviews were conducted. Questionnaires were also distributed. This paper adopted the Structured Systems Analysis and Design Method (SSADM) for the specification, development, and implementation. The web based system is implemented using PHP framework as Back-end, Front-End using HTML, CSS, JavaScript, XAMPP Server and MySQL was employed to handle the database structure. The web based system was implemented and tested using carefully thought out test cases which were successful. The proposed system offers antenatal education to expectant mothers no matter their location as well as a platform for discussion between expectant mothers, midwives, or anyone at all; sharing useful information amongst themselves and giving advice and encouragement to one another.