TY - JOUR
T1 - Development and Pilot Testing of the Eating4two Mobile Phone App to Monitor Gestational Weight Gain
AU - KNIGHT-AGARWAL, Cathy
AU - DAVIS, Deborah
AU - Williams, Lauren
AU - DAVEY, Rachel
AU - Cox, Robert
N1 - Funding Information:
The development and evaluation of the Eating4Two app was funded, in part, by a 2013 grant from the faculty of health at the University of Canberra (Award Number: 2013/05). The Eating4Two team would also like to thank Dr David Knight of RANZCOG for his comments on the manuscript.
Publisher Copyright:
© 2015 JMIR Publications. All rights reserved.
PY - 2015/6/5
Y1 - 2015/6/5
N2 - BACKGROUND: The number of pregnant women with a body mass index (BMI) of 30kg/m(2) or more is increasing, which has important implications for antenatal care. Various resource-intensive interventions have attempted to assist women in managing their weight gain during pregnancy with limited success. A mobile phone app has been proposed as a convenient and cost-effective alternative to face-to-face interventions. OBJECTIVE: This paper describes the process of developing and pilot testing the Eating4Two app, which aims to provide women with a simple gestational weight gain (GWG) calculator, general dietary information, and the motivation to achieve a healthy weight gain during pregnancy. METHODS: The project involved the development of app components, including a graphing function that allows the user to record their weight throughout the pregnancy and to receive real-time feedback on weight gain progress and general information on antenatal nutrition. Stakeholder consultation was used to inform development. The app was pilot tested with 10 pregnant women using a mixed method approach via an online survey, 2 focus groups, and 1 individual interview. RESULTS: The Eating4Two app took 7 months to develop and evaluate. It involved several disciplines--including nutrition and dietetics, midwifery, public health, and information technology--at the University of Canberra. Participants found the Eating4Two app to be a motivational tool but would have liked scales or other markers on the graph that demonstrated exact weight gain. They also liked the nutrition information; however, many felt it should be formatted in a more user friendly way. CONCLUSIONS: The Eating4Two app was viewed by participants in our study as an innovative support system to help motivate healthy behaviors during pregnancy and as a credible resource for accessing nutrition-focused information. The feedback provided by participants will assist with refining the current prototype for use in a clinical intervention trial.
AB - BACKGROUND: The number of pregnant women with a body mass index (BMI) of 30kg/m(2) or more is increasing, which has important implications for antenatal care. Various resource-intensive interventions have attempted to assist women in managing their weight gain during pregnancy with limited success. A mobile phone app has been proposed as a convenient and cost-effective alternative to face-to-face interventions. OBJECTIVE: This paper describes the process of developing and pilot testing the Eating4Two app, which aims to provide women with a simple gestational weight gain (GWG) calculator, general dietary information, and the motivation to achieve a healthy weight gain during pregnancy. METHODS: The project involved the development of app components, including a graphing function that allows the user to record their weight throughout the pregnancy and to receive real-time feedback on weight gain progress and general information on antenatal nutrition. Stakeholder consultation was used to inform development. The app was pilot tested with 10 pregnant women using a mixed method approach via an online survey, 2 focus groups, and 1 individual interview. RESULTS: The Eating4Two app took 7 months to develop and evaluate. It involved several disciplines--including nutrition and dietetics, midwifery, public health, and information technology--at the University of Canberra. Participants found the Eating4Two app to be a motivational tool but would have liked scales or other markers on the graph that demonstrated exact weight gain. They also liked the nutrition information; however, many felt it should be formatted in a more user friendly way. CONCLUSIONS: The Eating4Two app was viewed by participants in our study as an innovative support system to help motivate healthy behaviors during pregnancy and as a credible resource for accessing nutrition-focused information. The feedback provided by participants will assist with refining the current prototype for use in a clinical intervention trial.
KW - pregnancy
KW - mobile phone
KW - antenatal care
KW - maternal obesity
KW - intervention
KW - Intervention
KW - Pregnancy
KW - Mobile phone
KW - Antenatal care
KW - Maternal obesity
UR - https://www.mendeley.com/catalogue/development-pilot-testing-eating4two-mobile-phone-app-monitor-gestational-weight-gain/
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=84975490335&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.2196/mhealth.4071
DO - 10.2196/mhealth.4071
M3 - Article
C2 - 26048313
SN - 2291-5222
VL - 3
SP - 2
EP - 1
JO - JMIR mHealth and uHealth
JF - JMIR mHealth and uHealth
IS - 2
M1 - e44
ER -
