2,000 women affected by birth trauma every year - a digital treatment offering is now being built

DigiBirth is a research collaboration between Youwell and NTNU/St. Olavs Hospital, aiming to develop a digital treatment programme for women who have experienced a traumatic birth.

The challenge

Around two thousand women in Norway develop post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) after childbirth every year - a significant but largely invisible health problem. There is currently limited access to structured treatment specifically targeting birth-related trauma symptoms, and NTNU wanted to build and test an evidence-based digital offering that could fill this gap.

How Youwell addressed the challenge

For NTNU, it was important to be able to build the treatment itself in-house - designing the content the way the researchers wanted, and researching the results along the way, without depending on external development for every change. With the authoring tool in the Youwell platform, they can do exactly that, entirely without coding. The programme for birth-related trauma symptoms is being developed through an evidence-based, user-centred process, with close involvement of women in the target group, midwives, and other healthcare staff along the way. The effect is being tested in a clinical study at several maternity units in Norway, including St. Olavs Hospital, on outcome measures such as trauma symptoms, postnatal depression, breastfeeding, bonding with the baby, and the couple relationship.

Results customers experience

• Built on thorough user involvement, with women in the target group and midwives involved throughout the process
• Being tested through a clinical study at several maternity units in Norway
• Effect measured across several outcomes: trauma symptoms, postnatal depression, breastfeeding, bonding with the baby, and the couple relationship
• Part of a growing collaboration between Youwell and NTNU within women's health