Pregnancy Ecologies As Teachable Moments For The Lifecourse: Changing The MHealth Design Paradigm

Abstract

I investigate the potential for mobile health communication and social collaboration technologies (mHealth) to have a positive impact on pregnancy for lower-income American women. Recognizing that pregnancy is more than medical health, I set out to understand what pregnancy is for this population and how the embodied experience of pregnancy impacts women's lives. I have initiated a mixed methods study, which uses focus groups, interviews, information landscape analysis and social media discourse analysis. From the preliminary focus group and interview data, I have created a structuring health concept that I call the pregnancy ecology, accounting for the multi-faceted experience of pregnancy as a transformational event. The future work will incorporate all of the data into a holistic health ecology concept for pregnancy. Using this concept, I intend to design and build a mHealth app that treats pregnancy as a teachable moment for health, wellness and social support throughout the lifecourse.