What About Mom? Teen: Usability of a Postpartum App for Teen Mothers

Introduction: There exists a paucity of literature on availability of health literate, virtual postpartum symptom education empowering adolescent moms to seek urgent medical care when needed. With few postpartum health-related Apps on the market, a gap remains in research of their potential to deliver postpartum symptom instruction. This study examined the usability of the What About Mom App? for adolescent mothers to identify and act on urgent complications potentially reducing morbidity and mortality for this high-risk group. Methods: Participants were recruited via email lists and social media of community partners serving new mothers in both English and Spanish in the United States. Participants completed a survey that assessed their e-health literacy and perception of the quality and usability of the What About Mom Apps ? using the User Version Mobility Assessment Rating Scale (uMARS). Results: After data cleaning, 159 credible responses were retained for analysis. Participant mean total score for eHEALS was 30.2 (range 9–40; SD 5.9) indicating adequate e-health literacy. The uMARS scores indicate the quality and usability of the app. Compared with the norms in each of the uMARS domains, Functionality was the only category that scored below the standard. Qualitative suggestions were made from the participants to improve Functionality. Discussion: The uMARS scores added valuable information to modify the What About Mom App? to improve ease of delivery of health literate postpartum health information. Apps including The What About Mom App? offer promising interventions that can help increase healthcare engagement for moms of all ages to reduce maternal morbidity and mortality.