Yourtime: The development and pilot of a perinatal mental wellbeing digital tool using a co-design approach

Abstract

Introduction: Maternal anxiety and depression are major public health issues with prevalence as high as one in five women. There is a need to focus on preventative strategies to enable women to self-monitor their mental health status during pregnancy and postnatally.

Aim: To co-design and test a perinatal mental health digital tool to enable women to self-monitor their mental wellbeing during pregnancy and early parenting and promote positive self-care strategies.

Methods and ethics: A sequential mixed methods study utilising two stages 1) co-design workshops; 2) fit for purpose pilot with women through a purpose designed survey to evaluate acceptability, useability, functionality, and satisfaction.

Findings: Mothers, midwives, design researchers and students, participated in co-designing a digital tool and prototype application, YourTime. Fourteen participants engaged in the pilot, with all women agreeing that the tool would be beneficial in alerting them to changes in mental wellbeing. Seventy-seven percent agreed that this prototype had the potential to positively affect wellbeing during the perinatal period.

Discussion: The need to develop a perinatal mental health digital tool that enables women to self-monitor their wellbeing was identified. Women reported the YourTime app offered an acceptable and effective means to self-assess and monitor their wellbeing.

Conclusion: The YourTime app responds to the growing agenda for digital approaches to address perinatal mental health challenges. The pilot study demonstrated that the app offered potential to alert women to changes in mental wellbeing, but functionality need further development.

Keywords: Co-design; Digital applications; Maternal wellbeing; Perinatal mental health; Selfcare.