Pregnant Adults’ Interest in Physical and Mental Health Behavior Change Interventions Using Mobile Technology

Abstract Improving the health and well-being of pregnant adults is an important public health priority in the USA, and mobile health (mHealth) interventions may provide a scalable strategy to disseminate behavior change programs to pregnant adults. This study assessed pregnant people’s use of mobile technology, interest in making health behavior changes during and after pregnancy, and their willingness to use mHealth interventions. Participants were 133 pregnant adults ( M age = 27.86; 81% White) living across the USA recruited from social media to complete an online survey. Measures assessed mobile technology use and beliefs about improving mental/physical health in pregnancy and postpartum and using mHealth technology to address such changes. Participants endorsed daily smartphone use, and most participants endorsed wanting to improve their physical and mental health during pregnancy and postpartum. Key areas that emerged from their responses were to improve physical (healthy eating, physical activity, weight control, sleep, hydration) and mental (stress management, reducing depression/anxiety) health. Participants generally thought mobile technology could be a helpful and feasible tool for improving their health. Overall, findings support and extend past research among preconception adults suggesting mobile technology may be a helpful tool for implementing pre- and postnatal health behavior change programs. These findings may also be useful for developing community-informed health behavior interventions for pregnant adults that utilize mHealth approaches. Though these results show promise for the use of mHealth interventions during the perinatal period, feasibility and effectiveness studies are needed to better understand the role of mobile technology in perinatal health promotion.