Functionality of self-care for pregnancy mobile applications: A review study

Area of Science:

• Digital Health
• mHealth
• Pregnancy Care

Background:

• Self-care is crucial for preventing pregnancy complications and mortality.
• Mobile health (mHealth) applications show potential for improving self-care quality.
• Current functionalities of pregnancy self-care apps are not well-defined.

Purpose of the Study:

• To identify appropriate functionalities for pregnancy self-care mobile applications.
• To determine essential user interface (UI) features for these apps.
• To guide future development and refinement of pregnancy mHealth tools.

Main Methods:

• Systematic search of Android app stores (Google Play, Cafe Bazaar) from July to October 2019.
• Analysis of 76 selected pregnancy self-care apps out of 4196 downloaded.
• Content analysis to categorize app functionalities and UI features.

Main Results:

• Identified three main themes and 69 subthemes for app functionalities and UI.
• Key functionalities include training materials (27 subthemes) and self-care features (26 subthemes) like consultations and fetus tracking.
• 16 subthemes related to user interface (UI) features were also extracted.

Conclusions:

• mHealth solutions offer significant potential for pregnancy self-care.
• There is a need for app development focusing on identified functionalities and UI features.
• Further controlled trials and transparent reporting of mHealth interventions are recommended.