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Mobile apps for self-management in pregnancy: a systematic review

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Abstract

Complications during pregnancy is a major problem affecting healthcare systems which requires the efforts of both patients and healthcare practitioners. For this reason, mobile apps have been increasingly sought to support self-management during pregnancy. Although many benefits have been claimed for the inclusion of self-management mobile apps in supporting care, the domains already explored, functionalities and impacts of mobile apps for self-management in pregnancy is still not clear. A clear understanding of the health domains already explored functionalities of existing apps which have been evaluated as well as the effectiveness of these apps can help researchers and health practitioners identify areas of future needs for self-management mobile apps during pregnancy. The objective of this systematic review was to provide a narrative synthesis of the literature on the evaluation of mobile apps for self-management during pregnancy. The search was conducted on four databases: PubMed, CINAHL, Scopus and EMBASE. 18 articles met the inclusion criteria. Nine randomised controlled trials (RCTs), one non-randomised controlled trial (NRCT) and eight observation studies evaluating self-management mobile apps among pregnant women were identified. Mobile apps for self-management have been developed with different functionalities addressing various areas of complications during pregnancy including gestational diabetes, preeclampsia and high blood pressure. These apps have also been evaluated in countries mostly in the developed context. We conclude that there have been positive impacts of mobile apps for self-management during pregnancy; however, future research should focus on evaluating mobile apps for self-management during pregnancy within developing countries as well as the use of mobile apps for the identification of sexually transmitted infections, early warning signs of potential still birth, miscarriage and management of anaemia during pregnancy.

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Informatics, Namibia University of Science and Technology, Windhoek, Namibia

    Gloria Ejehiohen Iyawa & Aliyu Rabiu Dansharif

  2. School of Engineering, Computing and Mathematics, University of Plymouth, Plymouth, UK

    Asiya Khan

Authors
  1. Gloria Ejehiohen Iyawa
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  2. Aliyu Rabiu Dansharif
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  3. Asiya Khan
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Gloria Ejehiohen Iyawa.

Ethics declarations

Conflict of interest

Author GEI declares that she has no conflict of interest. Author ARD declares that he has no conflict of interest. Author AK declares that she has no conflict of interest.

Ethical approval

This article does not contain any studies with human participants or animals performed by any of the authors.

Appendices

Appendix 1

Search Strategy

Database

Strategy

PubMed

(((("pregnant"[Title/Abstract] OR "antenatal"[Title/Abstract] OR "prenatal"[Title/Abstract] OR "expecting"[Title/Abstract])) AND ("mobile phone"[Title/Abstract] OR "mhealth"[Title/Abstract] OR "m-health"[Title/Abstract] OR "mHealth"[Title/Abstract] OR "m-Health"[Title/Abstract] OR "mobile health"[Title/Abstract] OR "smartphone"[Title/Abstract] OR "mobile app"[Title/Abstract] OR "mobile application"[Title/Abstract])) AND ("2009"[Date—Publication]: "2019"[Date—Publication]))

Scopus

(("pregnant" OR "pregnancy" OR "antenatal" OR "prenatal" OR "expecting") AND ("mobile phone" OR "mhealth" OR mhealth "OR " m-health " OR " mobile AND health "OR " smartphone "OR " mobile AND app " OR " mobile AND application))

CINAHL

("pregnant" OR "pregnancy" OR "antenatal" OR "prenatal" OR "expecting")—Title

AND ("mobile phone" OR "mhealth" OR mhealth " OR " m-health " OR " mobile AND health " OR " smartphone" OR " mobile AND app " OR " mobile AND application) – Title

EMBASE

("pregnant" OR "pregnancy" OR "antenatal" OR "prenatal" OR "expecting") – Title/Abstract

AND ("mobile phone" OR "mhealth" OR mhealth " OR " m-health " OR " mobile AND health " OR " smartphone" OR " mobile AND app " OR " mobile AND application) – Title/Abstract

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Iyawa, G.E., Dansharif, A.R. & Khan, A. Mobile apps for self-management in pregnancy: a systematic review. Health Technol. 11, 283–294 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12553-021-00523-z

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