Researchers at Des Moines University (DMU) and The Harkin Institute for Public Policy & Citizen Engagement announced today the beginning of a scientific research project that will analyze if and how the Count the Kicks® mobile app impacts birth outcomes among women who use it. This will be the first study that researchers know of to examine the relationship between a mobile app that tracks fetal movement and birth outcomes, and will help Healthy Birth Day, Inc. analyze its Count the Kicks® stillbirth prevention campaign to better serve expecting parents. The study is funded, in part, by Healthy Birth Day, Inc.
Dr. Pamela A. Duffy, associate professor and vice chair of DMU’s Department of Public Health, emphasized the importance of this public health research: “This project may help us better understand the significance of monitoring fetal movement as part of stillbirth prevention. We hope this study will be an important contribution to the scientific literature on kick counting and in the reduction of health disparities associated with stillbirth.”
Duffy is joined in this research by fellow researcher Dr. Lyndi Buckingham-Schutt of The Harkin Institute at Drake University, with Des Moines University student research assistants Benjamin Williamson and Ashley Armantrout. Kerry Biondi-Morlan, co-founder of Healthy Birth Day, Inc., is providing subject matter expertise to the researchers.
The research team has begun sending online surveys to 2017 Count the Kicks® app users asking about their experience using the app and their birth outcomes. Researchers are seeking permission to study the kick counting data associated with the users’ Count the Kicks® account. Birth outcome data of 2017 Count the Kicks® app users will be compared to the 2017 national stillbirth rate as reported by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Researchers plan to release study results by early next year. For more information on the study, please contact 515-271-7811 or pam.duffy@dmu.edu. For media inquiries, please contact Emily Price, Healthy Birth Day, Inc. executive director, at 515-505-0319 or price.emily@healthybirthday.org.
