School of Health Sciences, University of Nottingham, Nottingham, United Kingdom.
Digital Research, University of Nottingham, Nottingham, United Kingdom.
J Med Internet Res. 2022 Mar 23;24(3):e31831. doi: 10.2196/31831.
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, health care providers and women have little information to guide them toward potentially helpful or effective apps.
This review aimed to evaluate a methodology for systematically searching and reviewing commercially available apps that support pregnant women with symptoms of anxiety in order to assist maternity care professionals in identifying resources that they could recommend for these women.
A stepwise systematic approach was used to identify, select, describe, and assess the most popular and highly user-rated apps available in the United Kingdom from January to 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.
Useful search terms were identified, which included nonclinical, aspirational, and problem-based phrases. There were 39 apps selected for inclusion in the review. No apps specifically targeted women with anxiety in pregnancy. Of the 39 apps included in the review, 33 (85%) focused solely on mind-body techniques to promote relaxation, stress reduction, and psychological well-being. Only 8 of the 39 (21%) apps included in the review reported that health care professionals had contributed to app development and only 1/39 (3%) provided empirical evidence on the effectiveness and acceptability of the app. The top 12/39 (31%) apps were evaluated by 2 independent reviewers using the developed criteria and scores. There was a small negative correlation between the reviewers' scores and app user rating scores, with higher user rating scores associated with lower reviewer scores.
App developers, publishers, and maternity care professionals should seek advice from women with lived experience of anxiety symptoms in pregnancy to locate, promote, and optimize 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 limited in their ability to locate and recommend acceptable and trustworthy apps because of 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.
心理健康和怀孕应用程序广泛可用，有潜力改善健康结果并增强女性的怀孕体验。女性在整个怀孕期间经常会访问数字信息。然而，医疗保健提供者和女性几乎没有信息来指导他们选择可能有用或有效的应用程序。
本研究旨在评估一种系统搜索和审查支持有焦虑症状的孕妇的商业可用应用程序的方法，以帮助产科护理专业人员确定他们可以为这些女性推荐的资源。
采用逐步系统的方法，从 2021 年 1 月至 3 月，在美国确定、选择、描述和评估最受欢迎和评分最高的应用程序。这包括开发基于脚本的搜索策略和搜索流程、编写评估标准以及对选定应用程序进行叙述描述和评估。
确定了有用的搜索词，包括非临床、理想主义和基于问题的短语。有 39 个应用程序被选入本研究。没有专门针对妊娠焦虑女性的应用程序。在纳入本研究的 39 个应用程序中，有 33 个（85%）仅专注于身心技术，以促进放松、减轻压力和心理健康。只有 8 个（21%）纳入研究的应用程序报告说医疗保健专业人员对应用程序的开发做出了贡献，只有 1/39（3%）提供了应用程序有效性和可接受性的实证证据。根据制定的标准和评分，由 2 名独立评审员对前 12/39 个（31%）应用程序进行了评估。评审员的评分与应用程序用户评分之间存在小的负相关，用户评分越高，评审员评分越低。
应用程序开发者、发布者和产科护理专业人员应向有妊娠焦虑症状的女性寻求建议，以定位、推广和优化针对孕妇的应用程序的可见度。目前缺乏基于证据的针对妊娠焦虑症的治疗方法的应对策略资源。由于缺乏关于应用程序的证据基础、开发和测试的信息，产科护理提供者在定位和推荐可接受和值得信赖的应用程序方面受到限制。产科护理专业人员和女性需要访问经过评估的可信赖应用程序库，并针对相关和既定标准进行评估。
