Mobile Health Intervention for Infants in Guatemala (18-m Intervention)

Promoting optimal development for children at risk in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs) is an important global health priority. Supporting caregivers to provide nurturing care is an evidence-based strategy, however feasibility of scaling-up this supporting is limited by competing demands on health workers' time. For infant development, mHealth technologies have the potential to solve this problem by providing tailored content directly to caregivers, involving and empowering them to promote infant development, promoting and facilitating interactions with health workers when areas of concern are identified and, therefore, expanding the reach of healthcare systems. Following a pilot feasibility study, this current study will examine the effectiveness of a caregiver-directed smartphone application to directly engage first-time caregivers in rural Guatemala and support early childhood development.

Inclusion Criteria: * first-time caregivers with an infant in the eligible age range (0-4 weeks) * infant from singleton birth * infant from full-term (\> 37 weeks gestation) birth Exclusion Criteria: * Presence of acute malnutrition/wasting or severe medical illness (heart disease, kidney disease, congenital abnormality) in the infant * medical need for supplementation of breastfeeding * caregiver not literate