b'BREASTFEEDING INFORMATION AND RESEARCH (BIR)Gamifying breastfeeding for fathers WORDS // JENNIFER HURRELLProcess evaluation of the Milk Man mobile appB reastfeeding information can be delivered in manyMilk Man was most frequently accessed during the 3-4 ways. For many families, this may be throughweeks leading up to the babys birth and in the first 2 weeks antenatal classes, pregnancy books, contact withof life. Fathers found it to be engaging and that it was handy health professionals or chatting with friends. And, of course,to have access to reliable information right on the phone. there are apps and websites. Unsurprisingly, many appsThe inclusion of push notifications that were aligned to the are written to track breastfeeding and expressing and arestage of pregnancy and, then, the age of the baby were highly aimed at mums. There is evidence that a well written appmotivating for participants in engaging with the app, as were can be quite helpful in assisting mothers to access accuratethe conversation forum and the information library.breastfeeding information (Wheaton, Lenehan, & Amir, 2018). Over 78% of the respondents trusted the information The evidence suggests that it is also very important forprovided within the app, with many accessing more than 11 fathers to have good breastfeeding knowledge, to helparticles. When users followed links to external sites such as mothers to succeed in breastfeeding. Where a father values breastfeeding, his partner is more likely to breastfeed (Giuliani, Caiaffa, Vogelhut, Witter, & Perman, 1994); and where a father[Fathers] appreciated that has received breastfeeding education, his partner is likely to feed for longer (Maycock, et al., 2013). Where fathers feelthe app reminded them that able to encourage and support breastfeeding, they picture themselves as a member of team Breastfeed The Baby,they arent alone in adjusting working together in tandem to nourish their baby (Rempel & Rempel, 2011). to new parenthood.This article explores the evaluation (White, et al., 2019) of a father-focused breastfeeding app, Milk Man, which was developed at Curtin University as a component of the Parentthe Australian Breastfeeding Association and Raising Children Infant Feeding Initiative (PIFI), a study designed to exploreNetwork, most of the time this was in direct response to topics several levels of education and support for expectant andintroduced by the research team in the conversation forum.new fathers. The app is believed to be the first father-focusedThe conversation forum was found to be a good breastfeeding app. It includes elements of gamification andengagement tool within the app as 60% of respondents push notifications to improve engagement and also providesappreciated the opportunity to hear from other dads. access to content such as a health information library and aHowever, the small numbers in each cohort of the forum, conversation forum. which was grouped according to babys due date, resulted The app (White, et al., 2016) was built for both iOS andin many conversations that were low in responses. Fathers Android platforms and was provided to participants in twosuggested that it may have been more helpful if there were of the four arms of the PIFI study. Data was gathered throughlarger groups involved. The option to have real world meet-ups app analytics as well as a questionnaire completed whenwas also raised by a few fathers, while others appreciated that babies reached 6 weeks of age. The app was provided duringthe app reminded them that they arent alone in adjusting to the last trimester of pregnancy, with 94.1% of the men whonew parenthood.completed the 6-week questionnaire downloading andThe gamification within the app involved users achieving trialling the app. points for engagement within the app, achieving badges for actions such as voting in five polls, or opening the app 5 weeks in a row. Around a third of respondents found that Where fathers feel able tothe gamification elements encouraged use, with many of these fathers valuing the earning of points and badges, as encourage and supportwell as being represented on the leader board. For some, the competitive nature of the game was a key driver for opening breastfeeding, they picturethe app, but others disliked these elements, with some finding the leader board element off putting.themselves as a member ofKey findings of the study were that the conversation forum was a hub of activity and could be strengthened with more team Breastfeed The Baby. fathers using it, the option to discuss topics introduced by fathers and further facilitation within the app by the study 30| Essence | Australian Breastfeeding AssociationDecember 2019'