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Updated: May 14, 2026
An Application for Pairing with Wearable Devices to Monitor Personal Health Status
Published on: February 3, 2022
Preferences and Willingness to Pay for Smart Bracelets Among Chinese Pregnant and Postpartum Women: Discrete Choice
Jing Wang1,2, Mingyue Cheng3, Jialiang Feng4
1Department of Nursing, the Fourth Affiliated Hospital of School of Medicine, and International School of Medicine, International Institutes of Medicine, Zhejiang University, N1 Shangcheng Avenue, Yiwu, Zhejiang Province, China, 86 18810169630.
Background:
Pregnant and postpartum women encounter various health challenges, including physiological stress and mental health issues, which necessitate ongoing health monitoring. Smart bracelets present a promising solution; however, there is limited research on the preferences and willingness to pay (WTP) for such devices among this demographic.
Objective:
This study aimed to investigate the preferences and WTP for smart bracelet attributes among pregnant and postpartum women in China and to explore how these preferences vary by sociodemographic factors, pregnancy stage, parity, and complications.
Methods:
A cross-sectional discrete choice experiment (DCE) was conducted involving 464 pregnant and postpartum women recruited from a maternal and child health hospital in Inner Mongolia. Six key attributes were evaluated: cost, hospital backend monitoring, primary function, privacy protection, ease of use, and monitoring report frequency. A mixed logit model was used to estimate preference weights and WTP for each attribute, with subgroup analyses based on income, employment, gestational stage, parity, and other factors.
Results:
Among the 464 pregnant and postpartum women included in the final analysis (valid data rate: 96.67%), the mean age was 31.06 (SD 4.05) years. The majority of participants were of Han ethnicity (n=385, 82.97%), had a high level of education (n=422, 90.95%), resided in urban areas (n=446, 96.12%), and were employed (n=353, 76.08%). In the DCE, cost negatively impacted smart wristband preferences (β=-0.000257; P=.01). Participants exhibited a strong preference for wristbands with fetal heart monitoring (β=1.275; P<.001), high-level privacy protection (β=.541; P<.001), and ease of use (β=.973; P<.001). They were willing to pay ¥4967.45 (based on an exchange rate of US $1=CN ¥6.93) for fetal heart monitoring, ¥2975.17 for sleep monitoring, ¥2109.29 for high-level privacy protection, and ¥3437.09 for daily monitoring. Subgroup analyses indicated that preferences varied according to income, employment, pregnancy stage, parity, complications, and age.
Conclusions:
The design of smart bracelets should be tailored to meet the diverse needs of pregnant and postpartum users. Key considerations include the integration of fetal heart and vital sign monitoring, the assurance of data privacy, the enhancement of usability, and the provision of cost-effective options. Understanding the specific preferences of different subgroups can guide the development of inclusive and responsive wearable health technologies for maternal care.
