A Self-management App for Maternal Mental Health

Femtech (female technology) describes digital technologies focusing on women’s health, which is gaining enormous growing global attention and investment. One such women’s health area is maternal mental health, which is an increasing problem with a lack of accessible resources. The overall aim of this research programme is to provide evidence to inform, enhance and evaluate the effectiveness of the Moment Health App in order to improve maternal mental health among mothers and their families, and to make maternal mental health mainstream. A mobile application (app) has been developed for new and expectant mothers and their families, which screens for prenatal and postnatal depression and associated anxieties, and includes additional features such as a helpful guide to practical and accessible coping strategies. The app consists of easy-to-use tools including an early intervention symptoms checker, a mood tracker, and a location tool. Further research is ongoing to advance the app, and to test its’ effectiveness in improving maternal mental health. This research programme is providing the evidence to support the stage-of-the-art development, ongoing advances, and evaluations to make maternal mental health mainstream through the use of technology, and thus contributing to the growing femtech.

Content

Author and article information

Contributors

Dr Anne Moorhead

Dr Raymond Bond

Professor Maurice Mulvenna

Professor Siobhan O’Neill

Nuala Murphy

Conference

Publication date: July 2018

Publication date (Print): July 2018

Pages: 1-5

Affiliations

[0001]School of Communication & Media

Ulster University

[0002]School of Computing

Ulster University

[0003]School of Psychology

Ulster University

[0004]Moment Health

Belfast

Article

DOI: 10.14236/ewic/HCI2018.168

SO-VID: 21973499-3111-48ae-b211-7e6d64c1600a

License:

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 Unported License. To view a copy of this license, visit http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/

Conference name: Proceedings of the 32nd International BCS Human Computer Interaction Conference

Conference acronym: HCI

Conference number: 32

Conference location: Belfast, UK

Conference date: 4 - 6 July 2018

Conference sponsor: Electronic Workshops in Computing (eWiC)

Conference theme: Human Computer Interaction Conference

History

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1477-9358 BCS Learning & Development

Self URI (article page): https://www.scienceopen.com/hosted-document?doi=10.14236/ewic/HCI2018.168

Self URI (journal page): https://ewic.bcs.org/

REFERENCES

World Health Organisation 2009 Maternal mental health Available at: http://www.who.int/maternal (Accessed 11/05/18)
World Health Organisation 2017 Maternal mental health Available at: http://www.who.int/maternal (Accessed 11/05/18)
Royal College of Midwives 2017 Maternal mental health Royal College of Midwives UK
NHS 2017 Maternal Mental Health Available at: http://www.nhs.uk/conditions/pregnancy-and-baby/mental-health-problems-pregnant/ (Accessed 11/05/18)
BauerA ParsonageM KnappM IemmiV BAdelaja 2014 Costs of Perinatal Mental Health Problems London School of Economics and Political Science UK
Royal College of Midwives 2014 Maternal mental health Improving emotional wellbeing in postnatal care. Pressure Points Royal College of Midwives UK
Parfitt Y AyersS. 2012 Postnatal mental health and parenting: the importance of parental anger Infant Mental Health Journal 33 4 400 410
EtheringtonN McDougallJ DeWitD WrightV 2015 Maternal factors and the emotional and behavioural functioning of adolescents with chronic health conditions Disability and Rehabilitation Available from: http://www.researchgate.net/publication/282347972_Maternal_Factors_and_the_Emotional_and_Behavioural_Outcomes_of_Adolescents_with_Chronic_Health_Conditions (Accessed 11/05/18)
Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists (RCOG) 2017 Maternal mental health - women’s voices Available at: http://www.rcog.org.uk/globalassets/documents/patients/information/maternalmental-healthwomens-voices.pdf (Accessed 11/05/18)
Maternal Mental Health Alliance 2017 Maternal mental health Available at: http://maternalmentalhealthalliance.org (Accessed 11/05/18)
NICE 2016 NICE Quality Standard Antenatal and postnatal mental health Available at: http://www.nice.org.uk/guidance/qs115/resources/antenatal-and-postnatal-mental-health-pdf-75545299789765 (Accessed 11/05/18)
LC. Cheug 2017 Femtech: the ‘niche’ sector pregnant with possibilities Available at: http://medtechengine.com/article/femtech/ (Accessed 11/05/18)
J CarollA MoorheadR BondW LeBlancR PetrellaK. Fiscella 2017 Who Uses Mobile Phone Health Apps and Does Use Matter? A Secondary Data Analytics Approach. Journal of Medical Internet Research 19 4 e125
A MoorheadD HazlettL HarrisonJ CarrollA IrwinC. Hoving 2013 A New Dimension of Health Care: Systematic Review of the Uses, Benefits, and Limitations of Social Media for Health Communication Journal of Medical Internet Research 15 4 e85
S O’NeillC ArmourD BoltonB BuntingC CorryB DevineE EnnisF FerryA McJennaM. MclaffertyS. Murphy 2015 Towards a better future: The transgenerational impact of the Troubles on Mental Health CVSNI Belfast
JL CoxJM HoldenR. Sagovsky 1987 Detection of postnatal depression: Development of the 10-item Edinburgh Postnatal Depression Scale British Journal of Psychiatry 150 782 786
K KroenkeRL SpitxerJB. Williams 2001 The PHQ-9: validity of a brief depression severity measure Journal of General Internal Medicine 16 9 606 13
D. Goldberg 1978 Manual of the General Health Questionnaire NFER-Nelson Windsor
J. Nielsen 1995 10 Usability Heuristics for User Interface Design Avaailbe at: http://www.nngroup.com/articles/ten-usability-heuristics/ (Accessed 11/05/18)

Comments

Comment on this article

[1] World Health Organisation 2009 Maternal mental health Available at: http://www.who.int/maternal (Accessed 11/05/18)

[2] World Health Organisation 2017 Maternal mental health Available at: http://www.who.int/maternal (Accessed 11/05/18)

[3] Royal College of Midwives 2017 Maternal mental health Royal College of Midwives UK

[4] NHS 2017 Maternal Mental Health Available at: http://www.nhs.uk/conditions/pregnancy-and-baby/mental-health-problems-pregnant/ (Accessed 11/05/18)

[5] BauerA ParsonageM KnappM IemmiV BAdelaja 2014 Costs of Perinatal Mental Health Problems London School of Economics and Political Science UK

[6] Royal College of Midwives 2014 Maternal mental health Improving emotional wellbeing in postnatal care. Pressure Points Royal College of Midwives UK

[7] Parfitt Y AyersS. 2012 Postnatal mental health and parenting: the importance of parental anger Infant Mental Health Journal 33 4 400 410

[8] EtheringtonN McDougallJ DeWitD WrightV 2015 Maternal factors and the emotional and behavioural functioning of adolescents with chronic health conditions Disability and Rehabilitation Available from: http://www.researchgate.net/publication/282347972_Maternal_Factors_and_the_Emotional_and_Behavioural_Outcomes_of_Adolescents_with_Chronic_Health_Conditions (Accessed 11/05/18)

[9] Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists (RCOG) 2017 Maternal mental health - women’s voices Available at: http://www.rcog.org.uk/globalassets/documents/patients/information/maternalmental-healthwomens-voices.pdf (Accessed 11/05/18)

[10] Maternal Mental Health Alliance 2017 Maternal mental health Available at: http://maternalmentalhealthalliance.org (Accessed 11/05/18)

[11] NICE 2016 NICE Quality Standard Antenatal and postnatal mental health Available at: http://www.nice.org.uk/guidance/qs115/resources/antenatal-and-postnatal-mental-health-pdf-75545299789765 (Accessed 11/05/18)

[12] LC. Cheug 2017 Femtech: the ‘niche’ sector pregnant with possibilities Available at: http://medtechengine.com/article/femtech/ (Accessed 11/05/18)

[13] J CarollA MoorheadR BondW LeBlancR PetrellaK. Fiscella 2017 Who Uses Mobile Phone Health Apps and Does Use Matter? A Secondary Data Analytics Approach. Journal of Medical Internet Research 19 4 e125

[14] A MoorheadD HazlettL HarrisonJ CarrollA IrwinC. Hoving 2013 A New Dimension of Health Care: Systematic Review of the Uses, Benefits, and Limitations of Social Media for Health Communication Journal of Medical Internet Research 15 4 e85

[15] S O’NeillC ArmourD BoltonB BuntingC CorryB DevineE EnnisF FerryA McJennaM. MclaffertyS. Murphy 2015 Towards a better future: The transgenerational impact of the Troubles on Mental Health CVSNI Belfast

[16] JL CoxJM HoldenR. Sagovsky 1987 Detection of postnatal depression: Development of the 10-item Edinburgh Postnatal Depression Scale British Journal of Psychiatry 150 782 786

[17] K KroenkeRL SpitxerJB. Williams 2001 The PHQ-9: validity of a brief depression severity measure Journal of General Internal Medicine 16 9 606 13

[18] D. Goldberg 1978 Manual of the General Health Questionnaire NFER-Nelson Windsor

[19] J. Nielsen 1995 10 Usability Heuristics for User Interface Design Avaailbe at: http://www.nngroup.com/articles/ten-usability-heuristics/ (Accessed 11/05/18)

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