BACKGROUND
Mental health and pregnancy Apps are widely available and have the potential to improve health outcomes and enhance women’s experience of pregnancy. Women frequently access digital information throughout their pregnancy. However, healthcare providers and women have little information to guide them toward potentially helpful or effective Apps. The review aimed to evaluate a methodology for systematically searching and reviewing commercially available Apps to support pregnant women with symptoms of in order to assist maternity care professionals to identify resources to recommend for pregnant women with symptoms of anxiety.
OBJECTIVE
The review aimed to evaluate a methodology for systematically searching and reviewing commercially available Apps to support pregnant women with symptoms of in order to assist maternity care professionals to identify resources to recommend for pregnant women with symptoms of anxiety.
METHODS
A stepwise systematic approach to identify, select, describe and assess the most popular and highly user rated Apps available in the UK from January – March 2021. This included developing a script-based search strategy and search process, writing evaluation criteria and conducting a narrative description and evaluation of the selected Apps
RESULTS
Useful search terms were identified which included non-clinical, aspirational and problem-based phrases. There were 39 Apps selected for inclusion in the review. No Apps were found that specifically targeted women with anxiety in pregnancy. Of the 39 Apps included in the review, 33 focused solely on mind-body techniques to promote relaxation, stress reduction and psychological wellbeing. Only eight of the 39 Apps included in the review reported that healthcare professionals had contributed to the App development and only one provided empirical evidence on the effectiveness and acceptability of the App. The top 12 Apps were evaluated by two independent reviewers using the developed criteria and scores. The was a small negative correlation between the reviewers scores and App user rating scores, with higher user rating scores associated with lower reviewer scores.
CONCLUSIONS
App developers, publishers and maternity care professionals should seek advice from women with lived experience of pregnancy anxiety symptoms to assist in locating, promoting and optimising the visibility of Apps for pregnant women. There is a lack of resources that provide coping strategies based on current evidence for the treatment of anxiety in pregnancy. Maternity Care Providers are hindered in their ability to locate and recommend acceptable and trustworthy Apps due to the lack of information on the evidence-base, development and testing of Apps. Maternity care professionals and women need access to libraries of trusted Apps that have been evaluated against relevant and established criteria.
CLINICALTRIAL