Abstract
The coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic has caused serious concerns in pregnant women. Self-care mHealth applications can provide helpful guidelines for COVID-19 prevention or management in case of infection. This study aimed to develop and then assess a self-care smartphone-based application to provide self-care for pregnant women against COVID-19. The present study was conducted in two phases. First, a needs assessment was performed based on the opinions of 30 obstetricians and pregnant women. Then, relying on the results, a smartphone-based application was prototyped and assessed in terms of its usability and user satisfaction. To assess the application, 36 pregnant women (11 infected with COVID-19) were asked to use the application for a week. The QUIS questionnaire 5.5 was used for assessment, and the results were analyzed via descriptive statistics in SPSS 23. According to the obstetricians and pregnant women, of the 41 information requirements, 35 data elements were noted to be essential in the needs assessment. Features of the application were placed in four categories of User's Profile, Lifestyle, Disease Management and Control, and Application Functions (e.g., introducing high-risk places in terms of COVID-19 prevalence in each city, introducing specialized COVID-19 medical centers to pregnant women to receive services, medication management, stress management and control, nutrition and diet management, sleep management, contacting physicians, doctor's appointment reminder, searching the available educational materials, and making application adjustments such as text font, size, and color). With an average score of 7.94 (out of 9), pregnant women rated the application at a good level. The application can be used to reduce anxiety and stress about COVID-19 in mothers, provide access to reliable information to answer possible questions, identify high-risk locations, and provide pregnant women with instant access to healthcare facilities and information related to COVID-19 self-care processes.
Highlights
Introduction e rapid spread of COVID19 has raised serious concerns in pregnant women [1]
Moradi et al [13] investigated self-care strategies for women with gestational diabetes mellitus (GDM) during the COVID-19 pandemic and showed that following self-care programs can improve both mothers’ and fetuses’ health, especially among women with GDM
E benefits of pregnancy self-care [12], the nature of pregnancy-related applications [17], the effects of education on improving pregnancy self-care processes [20], and the evaluation of self-care strategies for women with GDM during COVID-19 [11] have all been examined in studies on pregnancy during the COVID-19 pandemic; still, it seems that no study has been conducted to develop a COVID-19 self-care application for pregnant women. erefore, this study aimed to develop and evaluate a smartphone-based application for pregnancy self-care to help mothers protect themselves and their fetuses against COVID-19
Summary
Introduction e rapid spread of COVID19 has raised serious concerns in pregnant women [1]. Preventing and managing the disease by use of self-care guidelines can be a promising solution to prevent or overcome respiratory diseases, especially COVID-19 [6]. Pregnancy self-care is defined as the observance of care programs and principles to ensure mothers’ and fetuses’ health during pregnancy, at childbirth, and in the postpartum period [7]. Self-care guidelines can be used as practical ways to reduce the possibility of infection by the coronavirus and decrease the stress caused by it [8], improve pregnant women’s quality of life [9], reduce the cost of pregnancy-related healthcare, and lower the number of mortalities [10]. McIntyre [12] believed that self-care activities during pregnancy can ensure mothers’ and fetuses’ health during pregnancy, childbirth, and the postpartum period. Moradi et al [13] investigated self-care strategies for women with gestational diabetes mellitus (GDM) during the COVID-19 pandemic and showed that following self-care programs can improve both mothers’ and fetuses’ health, especially among women with GDM
Sign-in/Register to view highlights & summary Sign-in/Register to access full text options 
Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Schedule a callDisclaimer: All third-party content on this website/platform is and will remain the property of their respective owners and is provided on "as is" basis without any warranties, express or implied. Use of third-party content does not indicate any affiliation, sponsorship with or endorsement by them. Any references to third-party content is to identify the corresponding services and shall be considered fair use under The CopyrightLaw.
