Perinatal & Pediatric
Monitoring postpartum mood changes using a mobile phone-based app: MOMitorTM Deepthi* Deepthi Varma Amie Goodin Xiaofei Chi Tony Wen Kay Roussos-Ross
Introduction: Unrecognized and untreated postpartum mood changes could lead to increased mortality and morbidity among mothers and newborns.
Objective: This poster presents the data on postpartum mood changes among women using MOMitorTM, a mobile phone-based application that utilizes ecological momentary assessment to continuously monitor women’s moods, alerts triggered by the app based on their responses to mood assessments, and interventions provided.
Methods: Participants were women who were 18 years or older, delivered at a quaternary care university hospital, gave signed consent, could read and write English, were willing to download the app, and completed regular assessments from November 2021 to June 2022. Periodic mental health assessments using the Edinburgh Postpartum Depression Scale (EPDS) were done through the MOMitorTM app for 6 weeks. All were multiple choice questions and answered using their mobile phones’ screens. An EPDS score with the threshold set as >11, indicates a need for further assessment/screening as potential PPD. Non-responsiveness or critical responses prompted a call from the nurse for further follow-up.
Results: Among the 244 women enrollees, 43.1% had Medicaid insurance, 20.9% had NICU admissions post-delivery, 18.4% were Blacks, 16.0% were Hispanics, and the mean age was 29.4 years (SD=5.7). 146 women completed 6 weeks of assessments. Women’s mood did fluctuate during postpartum with the EPDS score being highest in the first two weeks postpartum followed by a decline in weeks 2-4 and increasing slightly in weeks 5 and 6. The app triggered 48 response-based alerts, initiating nurse contact, and 12 referrals (7 to clinic or wellness check, 4 to lactation) along with 1 hospitalization.
Conclusion: Daily monitoring of postpartum mood for the first 6 weeks is critical and could help in early diagnosis and intervention. The MOMitorTM app which utilizes EMA technology, is an effective tool for continuous monitoring of postpartum mood.