Initiation model of digital communication for midwifery students in continuity of care (CoC) practice via mobile applications.

PROBLEM: Continuity of care (CoC) improves maternal health, yet midwifery students encounter obstacles in digital communication, including a lack of standardised instruction. BACKGROUND: Digital technology is essential for facilitating CoC, but students lack sufficient exposure to telehealth protocols to foster meaningful clinical partnerships. QUESTION: What are the digital communication needs of midwifery students, and how might a mobile application be implemented to enhance continuity of care practices? METHODS: A mixed-methods exploratory sequential design was used. Phase 1 involved Focus Group Discussions (FGDs) with 40 midwifery students in West Java, Indonesia. Phase 2 utilised a survey of 97 students to confirm the communication model through Confirmatory Factor Analysis (CFA). FINDINGS: Qualitative analysis revealed eight themes, including Communicator, Channel, and Effect. The quantitative validation of the communication model questionnaire exhibited robust reliability across all aspects (Cronbach's alpha reaching 0.977), affirming its validity and reliability for application in Indonesian midwifery education. Significant quantitative results indicated that the Message dimension had the highest mean score (5.45), whereas the Communicator dimension had the lowest (5.07). DISCUSSION: The components of the application-based digital communication model can be used by clinical educators in CoC-oriented learning activities to help midwifery students develop digital communication competencies. However, this framework is still exploratory and has not been implemented or tested in a real-life clinical setting. CONCLUSION: The principal contribution of this study is a newly validated digital communication model framework. The application-based digital communication model has produced a valid and reliable questionnaire incorporating these quantitatively validated components, so that it can be used for the implementation of the application-based digital communication model in midwifery education in Indonesia.