PromoveDI: aplicativo móvel para apoio aos pais e cuidadores na promoção do desenvolvimento infantil de crianças de zero a seis anos

Abstract

Early childhood represents a critical window for human development, a period in which parents and caregivers face significant challenges in accessing reliable information and evidence-based practices. Gaps in implementing child development promotion practices are particularly evident in low- and middle-income countries, where barriers such as limited educational resources exacerbate inequalities. Mobile applications emerge as scalable strategies to expand access to qualified guidance on child development. The study objective was to develop and validate a mobile application prototype (PromoveDI) to support parents and primary caregivers in promoting child development in children from zero to six years old. This is a technological development study, grounded in the frameworks of Patient and Family-Centered Care, User-Centered Interaction Design, Child Health Booklet, and Care for Child Development Approach. Executed in four phases: State of the Art, Design, Development, and Evaluation. Sixty-two evaluators participated (16 expert judges, 12 technical evaluators, and 34 parents/caregivers) from six Primary Health Care Units in Fortaleza, Ceará. Collection period: November to December 2025. Instruments: Content Validity Index of Health Education, Suitability Assessment of Materials, System Usability Scale, and Nielsen's Heuristic Evaluation. Analysis using Stata 18.0, with Cronbach's Alpha tests, Intraclass Correlation Coefficient, and descriptive statistics. Ethical approval: CAAE 84954324.5.0000.5054. The results showed that the application achieved a global Content Validity Index of 0.92, "superior" classification in the Suitability Assessment of Materials (74.9%), and usability scores of 80.62 (technical evaluators) and 78.01 (target audience), both in the "Good" category. The recommendation rate reached 94.1%, with continuous use intention of 82.4%. Internal consistency ranged between 0.82 and 0.925, demonstrating excellent reliability. Inter-rater agreement presented values between 0.76 and 0.78, considered good. All criteria established in the decision matrix were met, resulting in prototype approval. PromoveDI was successfully validated regarding content, appearance, usability, and acceptability, demonstrating technical quality and potential to empower parents and caregivers in promoting child development. The tool constitutes innovative digital technology aligned with maternal and child health public policies, with prospects for free availability after authorship registration.