When intentions are translated into actions: A thematic qualitative investigation of the factors associated with caregivers’ engagement with a non-AI chatbot-led parenting intervention in South Africa

Imagine the world of science as a giant, bustling kitchen where researchers are trying to cook up better ways to help families. For a long time, chefs have known that giving parents a recipe book (a parenting program) is great, but sometimes people are too busy, too tired, or just can't find the kitchen to use it. Enter the "Digital Health Intervention," a fancy term for a helper that lives in your pocket. Think of it like a GPS for your family life: instead of just telling you where to go, it guides you step-by-step, reminding you to turn left when you're stressed or right when you need to be patient.

But here's the tricky part: a GPS is only useful if you actually look at the screen and follow the directions. If the map is confusing, the signal is weak, or you're too busy driving to look up, the GPS is just a fancy paperweight. Scientists call this "engagement." It's not just about downloading the app; it's about sticking with it, understanding the instructions, and actually changing your driving habits. This paper dives into a specific experiment in South Africa where a digital "GPS" called a chatbot tried to help parents raise their teenage daughters. The big question wasn't just "Does the app work?" but "Why do some people use it every day while others delete it after a week?"

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The Chatbot Coach: A Digital Friend in Your Pocket

In the low-income communities of South Africa, a team of researchers introduced a digital tool called ParentText. Imagine a friendly, invisible coach named Ayanda living inside a parent's phone. Ayanda isn't a human; she's a rule-based chatbot, which means she's like a very smart, pre-programmed robot that talks to you through text and video. Her job was to teach parents how to handle the tricky teenage years without yelling or hitting, focusing on building a strong, open relationship with their daughters.

The researchers didn't just hand out phones and hope for the best. They set up a massive experiment involving 1,034 caregivers. They wanted to see what happens when you give parents this digital coach alone, versus giving them the coach plus a human support group, or the coach plus in-person meetings. To really understand why people used the app or stopped using it, the researchers pulled 97 parents out of that big group for a series of deep, friendly chat sessions called focus groups. They asked the parents to spill the tea: What worked? What was annoying? What made you want to keep going?

The Good Stuff: Why Parents Kept Talking to Ayanda

The parents who stuck with the program had some great things to say about their digital coach. First, they loved that Ayanda was free and private. One parent compared it to having a secret friend who listens without judging. "If I use the phone, it will be me and my phone only," one mom explained. She felt safe talking about scary or sensitive topics, like her daughter's first period or fears about violence, without worrying that a neighbor would gossip.

The content itself was a hit. Parents felt Ayanda was empathetic and clear. She didn't just lecture; she told stories, showed videos, and even played music. Some parents said talking to the app felt like therapy. "Sometimes, you are stressed, but when you finish using the app, you feel relieved," one parent shared. They even started calling Ayanda "she," treating the robot like a real friend who was always awake and ready to chat, even at 11:00 PM after a long night shift.

The app also gave them trophies and badges for finishing tasks. It was like a video game where you level up your parenting skills. This "gamification" made them want to keep going to see what they could unlock next. And the best part? They saw real changes. Parents reported that they stopped beating their kids over homework, started talking through arguments instead of fighting, and even noticed their daughters sleeping better. One dad said he started helping with the laundry, realizing that housework wasn't just "women's work."

The Bumps in the Road: Why Some Parents Dropped Out

However, the journey wasn't smooth for everyone. The researchers found that the biggest reason parents stopped using the app wasn't that the advice was bad; it was that the technology broke down.

Imagine trying to follow a GPS while your car is running out of gas and the road is full of potholes. For many parents, the "gas" was mobile data. In rural areas, the internet signal was spotty, and buying data was expensive. "I'm staying in the deepest of the village where there are streams and sometimes, we have network, sometimes we don't," one parent said. Without a steady connection, the app just wouldn't load.

Then there was the issue of shared phones. In many families, there was only one smartphone for the whole household. If a mom needed to use the app to learn about parenting, but her husband or child needed the phone for work or school, she couldn't get her turn. "Sometimes our phone got damaged, or we are all using one phone in the family," another parent explained.

The app itself had some glitches, too. Sometimes Ayanda would get confused and repeat the same question over and over, even after the parent answered. "It was frustrating, and I would end up putting the phone away," one mom said. For older parents or those who weren't used to smartphones, the interface felt scary and confusing. They were afraid they would break something or do it wrong.

The Human Touch: The Secret Sauce

Here is the most important discovery: The app worked best when humans helped out.

The study found that parents who had a real person to call when the app got stuck were much more likely to keep going. If the app froze, they could WhatsApp a facilitator (a human helper) who would say, "Just type 'start' and then click here." This human support acted like a pit crew for a race car, fixing the problems so the driver could keep racing.

But there was a gender twist. The program was designed specifically for adolescent girls, so the chatbot focused on mothers and daughters. This left many fathers feeling left out. One dad said, "I was not really encouraged because I was the only man in the group." He felt like the program wasn't for him, which made him less likely to engage. The researchers suggest that future programs need to make sure dads feel welcome, too, perhaps by creating groups just for men.

The Verdict: It's Not Just About the Tech

So, what's the final score? The study suggests that a digital parenting app is a powerful tool, but it's not a magic wand. The app itself was good—it was helpful, safe, and changed how parents treated their kids. But for the app to actually work, you need to fix the structural problems around it.

You can't just give a parent a smartphone and expect them to use it if they can't afford data, if they don't have a private phone, or if they are too busy with household chores to find a quiet moment. The researchers found that human support was the glue that held everything together. When parents had someone to help them troubleshoot the tech, they stuck with it. When they didn't, they often gave up.

The paper concludes that to make these digital helpers work for everyone, especially in low-income areas, we need to design them with the real world in mind. We need to make sure they are easy to use, affordable, and supported by real people. It's not enough to build a great GPS; we also need to make sure the roads are paved, the gas is cheap, and the driver has a co-pilot to help them navigate the bumps.