Design and evaluation of an applied educational smartphone-based ‎program for caregivers of children with cerebral palsy

Background: Nowadays, caregivers’ general health has an influential impact on patients’ and attendants’ education as well as the management of chronic diseases. This study aimed to design, develop and evaluate an Android application based on a user-led approach to educate caregivers of children with cerebral palsy.
Methods: To conduct this applied developmental study, we first assessed the educational needs of caregivers using the standard Canadian Occupational Performance Measure questionnaire. Seven caregivers participated in this phase. Based on the known training
needs, we developed and evaluated a prototype in several iterations with the participation of these seven caregivers. For final evaluation, 17 new caregivers participated. A validated researcherdesigned questionnaire was used in order to evaluate its application. For data analysis, descriptive statistics using SPSS software version 16 was employed.
Results: User’s feedback during designation of the application resulted in some changes. The final application involved 7 educational modules (including knowing about cerebral palsy, movement principles, nutrition, WC, bath, transportation, and game) and a drug reminder module. All of the participants (100%) were satisfied with the graphical features, the appearance and the content of the application. They (100%) expressed that the
application is easy to use. More than 82 percent of the users believed that the application could meet their information needs for caring their children. In addition, over 75 percent of caregivers stated that it has been highly practical and that they had employed
it in their everyday life care.
Conclusion: It seems that this application can help caregivers of children with cerebral palsy to access the information required to provide daily care for their child at anytime and anywhere.