MOMTech - Using Mobile Technology in Tackling Maternal Obesity (MOMtech)

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Engineering for Life

Sheffield Hallam University

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2013

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Obesity in pregnancy is associated with a higher risk of death for both the mother and newborn child. This increased chance of complication has a negative impact on the women's experience as well as being a burden on the NHS. This feasibility study aims to identify factors that should be considered in designing a platform for bespoke self-management mentoring and support to help women with obesity in pregnancy. Through the use of mobile technology MOMtech aimed to help obese pregnant women develop and maintain a healthy lifestyle. At their regular clinic, a midwife encourages the women to take part in a range of activities. The mobile technology system is used to send reminders and motivational messages to the women, offering further support with the aim of increasing participation in the activities Mobile technologies such as text messaging have been shown to be successful in other areas of health promotion such as improving diet, giving up smoking and managing diabetes. This has not previously been looked at in relation to the pregnant population.

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Dearden, A.M., Arden MA, Fisher M Furness PJ, Garland C, McSeveny K, Sustar H, Soltani H. (2012). Midwives, Obesity and Mobile Technology (MOMTech): a User Centred Healthcare Design. In India.

Dearden, A. Arden, M. A., Fisher, M. Furness, P. J, Garland, C., McSeveny, K., Soltani, H., Sustar, H. (2012). User Centred Design for 21st Century Health Services, In Proceedings 4th Conference in HCI, Pune, India.

Soltani, H., Furness, P.J., Arden, M.A., McSeveny, K., Garland, C., Sustar, H. and Dearden, A., (2012). Women's and midwives' perspectives on the design of a text messaging support for maternal obesity services: an exploratory study. , .

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