@Article{info:doi/10.2196/mhealth.4071,
author="Knight-Agarwal, Catherine
and Davis, Deborah Lee
and Williams, Lauren
and Davey, Rachel
and Cox, Robert
and Clarke, Adam",
title="Development and Pilot Testing of the Eating4two Mobile Phone App to Monitor Gestational Weight Gain",
journal="JMIR mHealth uHealth",
year="2015",
month="Jun",
day="05",
volume="3",
number="2",
pages="e44",
keywords="pregnancy; mobile phone; antenatal care; maternal obesity; intervention",
abstract="Background: The number of pregnant women with a body mass index (BMI) of 30kg/m2 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. ",
issn="2291-5222",
doi="10.2196/mhealth.4071",
url="http://mhealth.jmir.org/2015/2/e44/",
url="https://doi.org/10.2196/mhealth.4071",
url="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/26048313"
}