(P-459) Efficacy and Effectiveness of Mobile Health Technologies to Improve Breastfeeding: Scoping Review

Background: The breastfeeding rate in children up to two years old is 45%, whereas in children up to one-year-old, this rate is 70%. However, only 41% of children under six months are exclusively breastfed. Mobile health technologies have been used to support acceptance and accessibility to improve breastfeeding practices.

Objectives: To summarize the evidence on the efficacy and effectiveness of mobile health technologies to improve breastfeeding.

Methods: This scoping review sought eligible studies from the following sources of information: MEDLINE; Excerpta Medica Database; Cumulative Index to Nursing and Allied Health Literature; The Cochrane Library; Web of Science; SCOPUS; PsycINFO and Virtual Health Library, from their initial inception dates to November 2019, without language restrictions. Randomized controlled trials examining the effectiveness of mobile health technologies to improve breastfeeding were included. The extracted data were analyzed for the type of mobile technology, population, intervention, comparators, and outcomes.

Results: Sixteen studies were included involving 14,575 volunteers in primary studies, published from 2014 to 2019. Among the studies included, nine were conducted in the United States, three in India, and the others in Australia, Canada, China and Iran. The short message service was the most frequent intervention, in twelve studies (75%). Most studies using mobile health technologies improved outcomes (69%), such as pattern of breastfeeding (exclusive, predominant, or partial), good breastfeeding practices, among others. However, almost a third of the studies (31%) showed inconclusive results.

Conclusions: Efficacy and effectiveness estimates indicate that mobile health technologies can result in important benefits for behavioral changes, improving and increasing the practice of breastfeeding to produce a healthier population. Although promising, further research is needed to provide assertive conclusions about the real mobile technologies' benefits in breastfeeding.