Birth Forward project
ALTHEA
Connection, community, and healthier postpartum journeys.
ALTHEA explores how social connectedness shapes postpartum health behaviours and supports the development of a digital tool to promote healthier choices around breastfeeding, physical activity, and sustained smoking abstinence.
About the project
ALTHEA is a Birth Forward project that brings together research, participation, and public-facing engagement around the postpartum period. At its core is the recognition that health behaviours do not happen in isolation. They are shaped by the people around us, by everyday support systems, and by the wider conditions in which women navigate early motherhood.
The project examines how beliefs, attitudes, and behaviours can spread through social networks, while also helping develop a digital health tool designed with end users in mind. Through this approach, ALTHEA contributes to a more connected and more humane understanding of postpartum support.
Why it matters
Postpartum support matters
Early motherhood can be a time of major change, vulnerability, and shifting support networks. ALTHEA places connection and support at the centre of postpartum wellbeing.
Behaviours are interconnected
Breastfeeding, physical activity, and smoking abstinence influence health in different but related ways. The project looks at these areas together rather than as separate issues.
Digital tools can help
ALTHEA supports the development and pilot of a participatory digital tool that aims to make healthier postpartum choices easier to understand, support, and sustain.
What ALTHEA focuses on
Social connectedness
Understanding how relationships, networks, and everyday social environments shape women’s beliefs, choices, and experiences after birth.
Health behaviours postpartum
Looking specifically at breastfeeding, physical activity, and sustained abstinence from smoking, and how these behaviours interact in real life.
Co-created innovation
Developing project outputs through participatory methods, with continuous feedback from target groups and expert input.
Main work areas
01
Digital tool development and pilot
The project includes the development and pilot of a social connectedness digital tool to support healthier postpartum behaviours, shaped through rapid evidence review, co-creation, and technical design work.
02
Mixed-methods research
ALTHEA investigates how beliefs and attitudes around breastfeeding, physical activity, and smoking can circulate through social networks and influence postpartum decision-making.
03
Dissemination and public engagement
The project also includes outreach and dissemination activity, helping translate research and project learning into public-facing communication, awareness, and policy-relevant messages.
Partnership
ALTHEA brings together academic, technical, and community-based expertise. The project is led by the Cyprus University of Technology, with 3AHealth contributing technical development and Birth Forward contributing participatory engagement, community connection, advocacy, dissemination, and campaign-oriented communication.
Cyprus University of Technology
Project coordination and research leadership.
3AHealth
Technical development and app-related specifications.
Birth Forward
Community voice, participation, advocacy, dissemination, and outreach.
Birth Forward’s role
Within ALTHEA, Birth Forward helps ensure that community perspectives remain visible and central. Our role strengthens the project’s participatory character by supporting engagement with parents and end users, while also contributing to advocacy, dissemination, and public communication.
This fits closely with our wider mission to support informed, connected, and rights-based approaches to maternity and postpartum care in Cyprus.
Partners and funding
Project consortium and EU funding
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