INTERACTIVE SOFTWARE PROGRAM IN BREASTFEEDING MANAGEMENT

THE LONG-TERM OBJECTIVE OF THSI PROJECT IS TO DISTRIBUTE IN MANY LANGUAGES, A COMPUTER SOFTWARE PACKAGE ON THE MANGEMENT OF HUMAN LACTATION. TWO VERSIONS ARE PLANNED. ONE DIRECTED TOWARD ALL HEALTH CARE PROFESSIONALS (HCPS) WHO COME IN CONTACT WITH PREGNANT AND/OR LACTATING MOTHERS AND A SCALED DOWN VERSION TARGETED FOR USE BY MOTHERS. THIS PROGRAM WILL GIVE HCPS THE NECESSAR INFORMATION TO MANAGE BREASTFEEDING COMPETENTLY, THERBY CONTRIBUTING TO THE PHS OBJECTIVES FOR THE NATION BY THE YEAR 2000 OF INCREASING BREASTFEEDING RATES AND DECREASING INFANT MORTALITY. ON A WORLD SCALE, INFANT MORTALITY WILL DECREASE AND INFANT HEALTH IMPROVE THROUGH DECREASED INFECTIONS. THE SPECIFIC AIMS OF THE PROJECT ARE TO TAKE ADVANTAGE OF COMPUTER TECHNOLOGY TO GATHER ACCURATE AND UP-TO-DATE INFORMATION ON HUMAN LACTATION MANAGEMENT, TO FILL GAPS IN KNOWLEDGE AND IMPROVE MEDICAL STUDENTS EDUCATION IN HUMAN LACTATION AND TO DISMISS FALLACIES WHICH CAUSE UNDUE NUMBERS OF BREASTFEEDING FAILURES. THE METHODOLOGY INVOLVES THE CREATION OF A HYPERCARD 1 (MACINTOSH) PROGRAM AND TESTING DURING PHASE I. ORGANIZATION OF BREASTFEEDING INFORMATION IS INCORPORATED INTO THE PROGRAM AND PERIODIC REVIEW/ALPHA TESTING (PHASE I, 4 MONTHS; PHASE II, 20-22 MONTHS). CONVERSION OF HYPERCARD FORMAT TO PC FORMAT, TESTING OF PC VERSION, EVALUATION OF SOFTWARE AS AN EDUCATIONAL TOO IN BOTH VERSIONS IS PLANNED FOR PHASE III. WRITING THE INSTRUCTION MANUALS FOR EACH CERSION, MARKETING, TRANSLATION AND WORLDWIDE MARKETING ARE PLANNED FOR PHASE III. THE INVESTIGATOR STATES THAT BECAUSE OF ITS EASE OF USE, VISUAL APPEAL, LOW EDUCATIONAL COST PER INDIVIDUAL (ESPECIALLY FOR INSTITUTIONS) AND LOW UPDATE COST, THIS COMPUTER SOFTWARE PACKAGE WILL BECOME THE LEARNING METHOD OF CHOICE.