Since the app's inception, Best Beginnings has dreamt of taking the Baby Buddy app with its rich, evidence based and accessible public health content, global. Through a grant from Erasmus Plus, a dynamic European partnership between Cyprus University of Technology, Birth Forward, The Berlin Protestant University of Applied Science, Athens University of Applied Science, Cosmoanelixis and Best Beginnings is exploring the transferability and applicability of Baby Buddy in Cyprus. The process of exploring, co-creating and producing the Baby Buddy Cyprus web app is aptly named Baby Buddy Forward. The project team come from the UK, Cyprus, Germany and Greece, all with a shared vision to improve perinatal outcomes and give every child the best start in life. Our vision is to create a Baby Buddy Cyprus web app as a public health intervention that is translated into English, Greek, Turkish, Arabic and Russian and to measure the impact of the intervention on the local health system, local families and on health outcomes. Using a process of collaboration and co-creation with families, health professionals and policy makers we aim to integrate Baby Buddy Cyprus into the local health system to drive change and improve outcomes.
Last week the partners came together in Limassol to share the initial findings from the insight work with parents and health professionals in Cyprus and Greece. As a data driven organisation, our excitement was palatable as we heard the results of the initial Delphi study.
The results tell us that 75% of 237 videos within Baby Buddy offers relevant information as judged by the reviewers (health practitioners, academics, parents). The reviewers highlighted that only 61 films were irrelevant in the Cypriot context. Within the 176 films that the reviewers assigned as relevant, 41 films need re-filming to ensure they are culturally attuned. For example, the breastfeeding in public film is highly relevant but is filmed in a park, a context that is not suitable in Cyprus and needs re-shooting in a mall or at a friend's house, there's also a film showing a mum changing her baby on the floor which is considered highly unhygienic in Cyprus.
In addition to reviewing 237 films, the group reviewed the written content in Today's Information within Baby Buddy. The reviewer's responses indicate that 11% needs re-writing and 15% needs updating for the Cypriot context. Therefore, 74% of Today's Information is both relevant and suitable. Examples of content that was deemed as not suitable includes detail on social benefits, mother and baby units, choosing the baby's name and immunisation pathway.
We shared our week not just with the Baby Buddy Forward partners but with local women who will be involved in the co-creation of the new content, students at Cyprus University of Technology and local practitioners. We are on an exciting journey made possible through the #PowerofCollaboration. We will continue to share milestones and developments of the project on the Baby Buddy Forward website which we will launch next month.