Strengths and Limitations
VIRUS
Given that social support has been proven to improve parental well-being and, in turn, promote infant growth in various areas, the SPA intervention was developed. The intervention aimed to meet the support needs of Singaporean parents during the perinatal period, thus helping them adjust to parenting roles and infant-care tasks. This study found that technology-based parenting interventions such as SPA can lead to benefits beyond enhancing parental well-being. The findings of this study are crucial for the future development of not only mobile apps for parents in Singapore but also those for parents in other countries. Providing parenting education and emotional support can indirectly improve infant developmental outcomes. However, it is important to recognize and consider the cultural beliefs, practices, and support needs of parents from other countries. This would allow app developers to provide a knowledge base and appraisal support that would be respectful of and helpful in meeting their individualized needs.Another strength of this study is that it used questionnaires that were completed by both parents and trained personnel. Parent-completed measures are advantageous in that parents spend the most time with their infants and are the most knowledgeable about them. However, existing literature [This study has some limitations. One of its limitations is its high attrition rate. Because of the COVID-19 pandemic, parents were more cautious of physical interactions, as they did not want themselves, their infants, or other family members to contract the virus. Therefore, many parents declined home visits for the Bayley-4 assessment. This may have affected the accuracy of the findings in representing the sample recruited for this study. Moreover, the longitudinal nature of the study might have also contributed to the high attrition rate. Parents tend to become busier post partum owing to the need for them to adjust to parenting responsibilities; in the case of this study, the need to take extra precautions to prevent contracting the COVID-19 virus added to these responsibilities. Therefore, it is paramount to devise strategies to keep parents interested in and willing to participate in the study. For example, research team members can frequently contact parents to build stronger rapport and remind them to access SPA if they have parenting-related concerns. Although the research team originally intended to do so, some technical issues led to the absence of chat notifications, affecting the communication between the team and parents. Furthermore, many of the research team members were also frontline health care workers; therefore, they were unable to meet often and resolve these issues in a timely manner.Another limitation of this study is the lack of information regarding whether the parents were experienced or new. This is an important limitation, as the struggles and support needs that new and experienced parents encounter may differ widely. Hence, future studies should take note to collect such information from parents to provide deeper perspectives regarding the effectiveness of parenting interventions in new and experienced mothers and fathers. Subsequent research may also investigate parental sensitivity and responsivity to provide further insight into how they may affect infant behavioral outcomes.