Development of mobile monitoring program for anxiety and depression in pregnancy and evaluation of first three months results

AIM: With this study, it was aimed to develop a mobile application to scan the symptoms of anxiety and depression and related factors during pregnancy, to screen pregnant women periodically with this application, to direct risky individuals to treatment, and to examine the effect of the application on pregnant women and the sociodemographic characteristics of pregnant women who prefer to use the application. MATERIALS AND METHODS: In the first stage, a software platform called Perinatal Anxiety Depression Monitoring Platform (PADIP), which monitors periodically during the perinatal period, was developed for this study. This platform included sociodemographic data forms, EDSS (Edinburgh Postpartum Depression Scale), PASS-TR (Perinatal Anxiety Screening Scale) and PUKI (Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index) scales. Afterwards, 320 pregnant women, 160 of whom were in the PADIP group, and 160 in the control group were included in the study. The PADIP group was screened monthly for depression, anxiety and sleep quality for 3 months, and instant feedback was provided on the scale scores. RESULTS: In our study, the rates of accepting to install the mobile application were significantly lower than the rates of completing the manual screening test. At the end of 3 months, there was a significant decrease in depression and anxiety scale scores in the PADIP group during the follow-up period, while there was no significant difference in scale scores in the control group (p=0.001 for EPDS; p=0.028 for PASS). CONCLUSION: It has been determined that the use of PADIP application has significant curative effects on the depression and anxiety scores of pregnant women, PADIP application is preferred by pregnant women with high education level, anxious and sleep disordered, and pregnant women who regularly complete PADIP application have a higher rate of being a housewife with higher education. Prospective studies with larger samples are needed on the subject.