Remote Perinatal learning and safety platform

Pregnancy and the postpartum period are times of extreme stress. Expectant and new mothers experience significant physical and emotional changes, exacerbated by anxieties, uncertainties and even major mental health challenges such as depression. However, studies have demonstrated that evidence-based prenatal education can help address these issues. Prenatal education has been shown to reduce rates of maternal anxiety/depression, decrease likelihood of preterm birth or low birth weight, and to increase maternal confidence -- all of which has a positive impact on the health and wellbeing of the child as well as the mother (Cochrane review-Ciochon,2022). Antenatal classes also fulfil a crucial psychosocial role. Learning from experienced professionals and sharing knowledge/experiences with peers can empower women to make informed decisions about pregnancy and childbirth, while providing valuable pre-/post-birth support networks which enable experience sharing, help and emotional support. The current gold standard for prenatal education is 'In-Real-Life' (IRL) groups provided by the NCT. However, these do not and cannot cover key high-need groups nationally (e.g. rural, certain ethnic communities, and mentally/physically compromised mothers who cannot attend sessions). Proven ed-tech approaches (e.g. online approaches) are not in use with the Gold Standard, so these communities remain isolated and signifiers of struggle can go unnoticed for too long. LWE is ideally placed to transform this landscape. We are a highly successful online learning platform with far higher-than-average course completion rates, enjoying 80% completion vs the industry average of 80% drop-out rate. This project will transform the existing LWE platform by leveraging the latest technical innovations in interactive social online classrooms involving AI-driven personalisation, behavioural nudges, data-driven insights, high-definition video, immersive simulations, sentiment analysis and geospatial contextualization to create more engaging, effective, and personalised learning experiences for new and expectant mothers. Further, LWE will identify if students constantly express negative sentiments or are struggling/disengaged. By tracking individual student sentiments, LWE/NCT can offer personalised content or recommendations based on the students' emotional states and learning preferences; and help route them to NCT support workers for additional help/interventions where needed, helping prevent depression or even suicide Project outputs will have measurable impacts on the health of babies and new mothers increasing breast-feeding, reducing depression (and ultimately suicide rates amongst new mothers) and reduce reliance on the NHS (~£1.2bn/year costs from new mothers not accessing high-quality perinatal mental health care (RCN,2021)).