Journal of Women's Health Care
Open Access

The Health-e Babies app for antenatal education: Feasibility for socially disadvantaged women

4^th World Congress on Midwifery and Womens Health

July 20-22, 2017 Melbourne, Australia

Julia A Dalton, Dianne Rodger, Claire T Roberts and Vicki L Clifton

University of Adelaide, Australia

Posters & Accepted Abstracts: J Women's Health Care

Abstract :

Statement of the Problem: The use of mobile technology such as phone applications (apps) has been proposed as an efficient means of providing health and clinical information in a variety of healthcare settings. We developed the Health-e Babies app as an android smart phone application for pregnant women attending a tertiary hospital in a low socio-economic community, with the objective of providing pregnancy related health information for improved health outcomes. However, the pilot study had a poor participation rate with 77% (n=95) not completing the study requirements. These initial findings raised some very important issues in relation to the difficulties of engaging women with a pregnancy app and analyses the characteristics of the participants who did not complete the study requirements to identify potential barriers associated with the implementation of a pregnancy app. Methodology & Theoretical Orientation: This retrospective review of quantitative data collected via questionnaires completed at the commencement of the trial, related to the participant�¢����s communication technology use, confidence in knowing where to seek advice and mental health status. Findings: All women were similar in terms of age, race and level of education. Of the 95 women (77%) who did not complete the trial, they were significantly more anxious as indicated by State Trait Anxiety Inventory (p=0.000 Student T-test) and more likely to be unemployed (50% vs 31%, p=0.012) compared to the group of women who completed the trial. Conclusion: This study provides important information about the challenges associated with the implementation of a pregnancy app in a socially disadvantaged community, suggesting that social and mental health issues, financial constraints and technological ability can affect women�¢����s engagement with a mobile phone app. Women in disadvantaged circumstances may require assistance with engagement.

Biography :

Email: Julia.dalton@adelaide.edu.au