Parent-targeted eHealth technologies for premature babies´ care: An integrative review

Abstract

EHealth technologies contribute to strengthening parental care practices for premature babies, involving issues related to feeding, swallowing, orofacial motricity, hearing and language. Despite the large amount of information and applications available, there are considerable variations in the quality, usability and credibility of these resources. Goals: Conduct an integrative review on eHealth technologies aimed at parents for premature babies´ care. Methods: Research was made on important databases (Capes, EBSCO, BVS, PubMed, Scholar and Scielo), seeking publications from 2011 to 2021, in Portuguese and English, aligned with the guiding questions to investigate the use of eHealth technologies to promote health education focused on the care of premature babies and health promotion strategies and resources aimed at the parents and families of these babies. Eight articles were selected in the first stage of the review and another 11 in the second stage, totaling 19 scientific productions. Results: After reading, a qualitative analysis (content analysis in thematic modality) was held and the following themes emerged: eHealth technologies as tools for communication and education in maternal and child health, strategies for care and health promotion of parents and premature babies based on eHealth technologies, and the need for evaluation and validation for the use of eHealth technologies in maternal and child health. Interventions with eHealth technologies in maternal and child health have been gaining ground in studies that suggest that this type of intervention is important and of increasing clinical and scientific relevance, with ample possibility of application at different levels of care. However, such tools require studies that evaluate the applicability, advantages and limitations. Conclusions: Properly validated eHealth technologies can be used to assist parents in health promotion and care for the premature baby after hospital discharge, contributing to the transformation of health systems and the solvability of practices.