Use of Mobile Technology for Antenatal Services in Asian Countries

Abstract

 The use of application-based mobile technology is widespread in Asian countries, but information related to its use for antenatal care is still minimal. This study aimed to describe the use of mHealth in antenatal care services in Asian countries. This study was a systematic review, which was sourced from several databases, namely Pubmed, ProQuest and Ebsco. The selection of articles was carried out using the Zotero application. The selection of articles was based on the PICOS criteria (population, intervention, comparison, outcome, and study design). The population criteria were pregnant women; intervention was mobile technology; no comparison; outcome was success in antenatal care; study design was qualitative and quantitative. Furthermore, a synthesis was carried out on the articles obtained based on the study objectives. The results of the study showed that: 1) The mHealth technology used includes simple technology to modern technology, namely mobile phones and smartphones; 2) Most mHealth was used for promotive efforts, but some are for preventive and curative efforts; 3) The benefits of mHealth in antenatal care services were to facilitate services, improve the quality of communication, reduce the frequency of visits to the clinic, and are feature-rich and highly applicable. Barriers to the use of mHealth include limited mobile phone ownership, internet connection, operator availability, lack of information, limited information technology, and service costs. The use of mobile technology in antenatal care in Asian countries was divided into 3, namely the use of SMS in low-middle income countries; the use of applications in high-middle income countries; and the use of applications and telephones for high-income countries. It was concluded that the use of mHealth technology in antenatal care services is more widely used for promotive efforts.

Keywords: antenatal care; promotive efforts; mobile technology; smartphone