Graduate School of Biomedical and Health Sciences, Hiroshima University, Hiroshima, Japan.
School of Nursing, Muhimbili University of Health and Allied Sciences, Dar es Salaam, Tanzania.
PLoS One. 2023 Mar 31;18(3):e0283808. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0283808. eCollection 2023.
To address Tanzania's high maternal mortality ratio, it is crucial to increase women's access to healthcare. To improve access, the quality of antenatal care needs to be improved. Therefore, we conducted a pilot study of a smartphone app for midwives and examined its potential effects on the learning outcomes of midwives and birth preparedness of pregnant women in Tanzania. This mixed-methods, pilot study provided an educational app for midwives in the intervention group, obtained data about the continuous use of the app, measured midwives' learning outcomes, directed focus group discussions on the usability of the app, and conducted surveys among pregnant women about birth preparedness in the intervention and control groups to evaluate if midwives provided proper information to them. The control group received regular antenatal care and answered the same survey. Participants were 23 midwives who participated in the testing and provided learning outcome data. Twenty-one participated in focus group discussions. Results showed that 87.5% of midwives continued to study with the app two months post-intervention. A mini-quiz conducted after using the app showed a significant increase in mean scores (6.9 and 8.4 points, respectively) and a non-significant increase on the questionnaire on women-centered care (98.6 and 102.2 points, respectively). In the focus group discussions, all midwives expressed satisfaction with the app for several reasons, including comprehensive content, feelings of confidence, and reciprocal communication. There were 207 pregnant women included in the analysis. The intervention group had significantly higher knowledge scores and home-based value scores than did controls. The total scores and other subscales did not show statistical significance for group differences. The results indicate the potential impact of the midwifery education app when it is implemented on a larger scale, especially considering that the results show a potential effect on midwives' learning outcomes.
为了解决坦桑尼亚居高不下的孕产妇死亡率，增加妇女获得医疗保健的机会至关重要。为了改善获得途径，需要提高产前护理的质量。因此，我们在坦桑尼亚开展了一项针对助产士的智能手机应用程序试点研究，以检验其对助产士学习成果和孕妇生育准备的潜在影响。这项混合方法的试点研究为干预组的助产士提供了一个教育应用程序，获得了关于应用程序持续使用的数据，衡量了助产士的学习成果，就应用程序的可用性开展了焦点小组讨论，并在干预组和对照组的孕妇中进行了生育准备情况调查，以评估助产士是否向他们提供了适当的信息。对照组接受常规产前护理并回答了相同的调查。共有 23 名助产士参加了测试并提供了学习成果数据，其中 21 人参加了焦点小组讨论。结果显示，87.5%的助产士在干预后两个月仍继续使用该应用程序进行学习。使用该应用程序后进行的小测验显示，平均分数显著提高（分别为 6.9 分和 8.4 分），而以妇女为中心的护理问卷得分则略有提高（分别为 98.6 分和 102.2 分）。在焦点小组讨论中，所有助产士都对该应用程序表示满意，原因包括内容全面、增强信心和相互交流等。共有 207 名孕妇纳入分析。干预组的知识得分和家庭价值观得分均显著高于对照组。总分和其他子量表在组间差异方面没有统计学意义。研究结果表明，当该助产士教育应用程序在更大范围内实施时，可能会产生影响，尤其是考虑到研究结果表明该应用程序对助产士学习成果有潜在影响。
