mHealth apps for maternal mental well-being among pregnant and postpartum women: a systematic review.

Abstract

Background: Maternal mental well-being during and after pregnancy is often overlooked, posing serious long-term risks to mothers and children. This systematic review aims to synthesize research on mobile health (mHealth) applications (apps) designed to support perinatal and postpartum mental well-being, with a focus on their design characteristics, intervention approaches, and reported effectiveness.

Methods: We conducted a systematic review following the PRISMA 2020 guidelines. PubMed and Scopus were searched up to August 2025. Studies were included if they reported original research on mHealth apps targeting maternal mental well-being during or after pregnancy with a diagnostic or intervention component for mental health. Review papers, conference abstracts, and studies without an mHealth component were excluded.

Results: From 2,127 articles, 15 met the inclusion criteria. These studies, published between 2017 and 2024, evaluated 13 distinct mHealth apps targeting primarily anxiety (12 studies), depression (8 studies), and stress (4 studies). Across all 15 studies, 24 screening methods were reported. Apps delivered interventions including mindfulness and guided meditation (7 studies) and cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT)-based tools and mood tracking (7 studies). Six app feature categories were identified: mental health screening, physical and mental well-being exercises and meditation, health education, visual design elements, healthcare support, and additional support features. Usability and engagement were most commonly evaluated using questionnaires and surveys (4 studies) and the Mobile Application Rating Scale (MARS) (3 studies). Six studies reported positive outcomes for depression symptoms. Common methodological limitations included small sample sizes, high dropout rates, and lack of long-term follow-up, constraining the generalizability of findings.

Conclusions: This review demonstrates the potential of mHealth apps as accessible tools for supporting maternal mental well-being during pregnancy and the postpartum period. Clinicians should regard these tools as supplementary rather than standalone interventions until larger-scale efficacy trials are available. App developers are encouraged to design solutions that span both prenatal and postnatal periods, address multiple mental health conditions simultaneously, integrate validated screening methods, and combine health education, therapeutic, and behavioral support within a single platform. Future research should prioritize robust, longitudinal trials with diverse populations and standardized outcome measures to establish the evidence base needed for broader integration of mHealth into perinatal care.