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Ease of Use and Acceptability of a Smartphone App for Young, Low-Income Mothers

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Abstract

The purpose of the study was to pilot test the Enhanced New Mothers Network smartphone app obtaining feedback on the ENMN app’s ease of use (clarity of functions and ease of navigation) and acceptability (participants’ level of acceptability and suggestions for improvement). A convenience sample of six adolescent, low-income mothers was recruited from two maternal health clinics in metropolitan communities in the USA and through snowballing. Investigators used written questionnaires with Likert items and open-ended questions for additional details from participants at two visits, a week apart. During and after the demonstration of the ENMN app, participants were asked verbal questions on the improvement of the ENMN app, and an investigator documented participants’ responses to questions, comments, and observations on field notes. Participants rated the ease of use (clarity of functions and ease of navigations) of the ENMN app as relatively high. Mothers expressed satisfaction in learning the ENMN app quickly and easily. Mothers’ responses were mixed regarding the acceptability of the ENMN app. Two mothers appreciated the visual results of creating their own username and avatar for the ENMN app. In contrast, some mothers reported the ENMN app should be made more visually interesting before the app is used in future studies.

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Funding

This study was conducted with the support of a Dean’s grant from the College of Nursing, University of Nebraska Medical Center.

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Correspondence to Christie Campbell-Grossman.

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The authors declare that they have no conflict of interest.

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All procedures performed in studies involving human participants were in accordance with the ethical standards of the institutional and/or national research committee and with the 1964 Helsinki declaration and its later amendments or comparable ethical standards.

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Informed consent was obtained from all individual participants included in the study.

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Campbell-Grossman, C., Hudson, D.B., Hanna, K.M. et al. Ease of Use and Acceptability of a Smartphone App for Young, Low-Income Mothers. J. technol. behav. sci. 3, 5–11 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1007/s41347-017-0031-5

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s41347-017-0031-5

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