# Exploring Public Health Nurses’ Thoughts, Needs and Expectations for the Development and Usability of an Online Parenting Resource on Early Nutrition Delivered through Primary Care: A Qualitative Study

## TL;DR

This study explores how public health nurses view the development of an online parenting resource for early nutrition, highlighting key requirements for usability and effectiveness.

## Contribution

The paper provides insights into PHNs' expectations for digital nutrition resources, emphasizing accessibility, relevance, and meaningful engagement.

## Key findings

- Public health nurses see online nutrition resources as potentially useful tools for parents.
- Content must be engaging, broadly relevant, and easy to apply for diverse users.
- Quality assurance and ease of access are crucial for PHNs to recommend digital resources.

## Abstract

Public health nurses (PHNs) constitute an important source of nutritional knowledge for parents during the child’s first 1000 days of life, but parents also seek advice from various online sources. Access to timely digital interventions may facilitate healthful eating habits later in life. In the Nutrition Now project, we wanted to combine previously evaluated digital interventions on early nutrition and implement the integrated intervention at municipality level. We prospectively explored PHNs’ thoughts, needs and expectations regarding the development and usability of such a digital resource. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with six PHNs, and data was subjected to thematic analysis. Four main themes were identified: (1) an online resource on nutrition may be a useful tool; (2) the content should attract interest and be broad in scope; (3) it must be easy to apply and adapted to different users; and (4) participating in a development process should seem meaningful. Our findings highlight the need for easily accessible, quality-assured online information to underpin the guidance provided by PHNs. The study further sheds light on prerequisites considered by PHNs to be crucial for parents to engage in a digital resource, as well as their perspectives on how it best may be communicated and used.