The Association Between the Use of Antenatal Care Smartphone Apps in Pregnant Women and Antenatal Depression: Cross-Sectional Study

Abstract

BackgroundAntenatal care smartphone apps are increasingly used by pregnant women, but studies on their use and impact are scarce.ObjectiveThis study investigates the use of antenatal care apps in pregnant women and explores the association between the use of these apps and antenatal depression.MethodsThis study used a convenient sample of pregnant women recruited from Hunan Provincial Maternal and Child Health Hospital in November 2015. The participants were surveyed for their demographic characteristics, use of antenatal care apps, and antenatal depression. Factors that influenced antenatal pregnancy were analyzed using logistic regression.ResultsOf the 1304 pregnant women, 71.31% (930/1304) used antenatal care apps. Higher usage of apps was associated with urban residency, nonmigrant status, first pregnancy, planned pregnancy, having no previous children, and opportunity to communicate with peer pregnant women. The cutoff score of the Edinburgh Postnatal Depression Scale was 10, and 46.11% (601/1304) of the pregnant women had depression. Logistic regression showed that depression was associated with the availability of disease-screening functions in the apps (odds ratio (OR) 1.78, 95% CI 1.03-3.06) and spending 30 minutes or more using the app (OR 2.05, 95% CI 1.19-3.52). Using apps with social media features was a protective factor for antenatal depression (OR 0.33, 95% CI 0.12-0.89).ConclusionsThe prevalence of the use of prenatal care apps in pregnant women is high. The functions and time spent on these apps are associated with the incidence of antenatal depression.

mHealth and Perinatal Depression in Low-and Middle-Income Countries: A Scoping Review of the Literature

“…Of the 12 articles we included in our analysis, 3 (25%) were study protocols [ 41 , 42 , 43 ] and 2 (16.7%) were reviews of available mobile phone applications related to perinatal depression [ 44 , 45 ]. The 7 remaining articles (58.3%) were research studies [ 46 , 47 , 48 , 49 , 50 , 51 , 52 ]. These studies were heterogeneous in terms of how mobile phone technology was used (e.g., interactive text messaging, automated text messaging, automated voice mail or use of mobile phone application), the purpose of the use of mobile technology (prevention, screening, and/or treatment), the perinatal timeframe in terms of pregnancy or the postpartum period and population in terms of parity ( Table 2 , Table 3 and Table 4 ).…”

“…In terms of the population of focus, 2 of the 12 articles (16.7%) were reviews of mobile phone applications that were intended to be used by women who were pregnant or in the postpartum period [ 44 , 45 ]. Five of the 12 articles (41.7%), 2 of which were study protocols [ 41 , 42 , 46 , 48 , 51 ], focused on pregnant women. One of these 5 articles (20%) included first-time expectant mothers only [ 46 ].…”

“…One of these 5 articles (20%) included first-time expectant mothers only [ 46 ]. The other 5 articles (41.7%), including one study protocol, considered postpartum women [ 43 , 47 , 48 , 49 , 50 , 52 ]. Of these 5 articles, 2 (40%) included first time mothers [ 49 , 50 ].…”

“…Of these 5 articles, 2 (40%) included first time mothers [ 49 , 50 ]. Five of the 12 studies (41.7%) took place in China [ 43 , 44 , 46 , 48 , 49 ], followed by 3 studies (25%) in Iran [ 47 , 50 , 52 ]. The primary outcome measure of 8 of the 12 studies (66.7%) was the depressive symptoms of women who were pregnant or in the postpartum period [ 41 , 42 , 43 , 46 , 47 , 48 , 50 , 52 ].…”

“…Five of the 12 studies (41.7%) took place in China [ 43 , 44 , 46 , 48 , 49 ], followed by 3 studies (25%) in Iran [ 47 , 50 , 52 ]. The primary outcome measure of 8 of the 12 studies (66.7%) was the depressive symptoms of women who were pregnant or in the postpartum period [ 41 , 42 , 43 , 46 , 47 , 48 , 50 , 52 ]. Seven of these articles [ 42 , 43 , 46 , 47 , 48 , 50 , 52 ] described the use of the Edinburgh Postnatal Depression Scale to identify depressive symptoms and one article [ 41 ] described the use of the Patient Health Questionnaire—9 to quantify depressive symptoms.…”