Design and Development of a Mobile Application Supporting Planning for Future Parents

Area of Science:

• Digital Health
• Maternal Health
• Human-Computer Interaction

Background:

• Pregnancy necessitates significant lifestyle adjustments for expectant parents, including changes in daily activities and healthcare interactions.
• Effective management of these changes requires seamless data sharing between parents, healthcare providers, and social support networks.

Purpose of the Study:

• To design and develop a novel mobile application aimed at assisting future parents in planning activities and managing information during pregnancy.
• To explore the needs and challenges faced by expectant parents and healthcare professionals in the context of digital health solutions.

Main Methods:

• Application design and development process outlined.
• Early-stage evaluation involving qualitative interviews with key stakeholders, including expectant parents and healthcare institution representatives.
• Analysis of interview data to understand user needs and application utility.

Main Results:

• The mobile application is designed to facilitate data identification and sharing among future parents, healthcare institutions, and social support groups.
• Early evaluation suggests the application addresses temporal and situation-dependent needs throughout the pregnancy journey.
• Stakeholder feedback highlights the importance of considering patient pathways for contextualized information delivery.

Conclusions:

• Mobile applications can effectively support future parents by addressing their evolving needs during and after pregnancy.
• Integrating patient pathways into application design enhances the delivery of contextualized information.
• Further development should focus on long-term needs and seamless integration within existing healthcare ecosystems.