Satisfaction of indigenous pregnant women with a mobile voice application in Quechua developed by midwives for prenatal care in Peru

Objectives

Despite the effort shown by health personnel, many of them still have limitations in communicating with Peruvian Quechua-speaking pregnant women. The mobile applications have become an alternative to complement health care during pregnancy, especially if, as in Peru, the use of mobile devices has increased significantly, even in indigenous communities. Thus, the objective of this research was to evaluate the satisfaction of indigenous pregnant women from a Peruvian rural community with a mobile voice application in Quechua developed by midwives for prenatal care.

Study design

Cross-sectional study with a questionnaire.

Methods

The research was developed with 120 pregnant women from the rural community of Marian (3320 m a.s.l., Huaraz, Peru), who after a thorough explanation and the voluntary signing of a declaration of informed consent, accepted the free installation of the application. Thus, after at least 6 months of use, they answered a previously validated questionnaire with 23 questions between August 2023 and July 2024. A descriptive analysis was applied.

Results

It was evidenced that 82.5 % of pregnant women were satisfied with the application. Three (21.4 %) of 14 features were rated with dissatisfaction or indifference such as speed of functions, content about maternal-foetal bonding and appearance, with scores of 2.98, 2.92 and 3.46, respectively. The best valued aspect was the information about warning signs during pregnancy, childbirth and postpartum with a score of 4.71, while the information about activities that promote maternal-foetal bonding received the lowest score (2.92).

Conclusions

The majority of indigenous pregnant women from Marian community were satisfied with mobile voice application in Quechua for prenatal care, so with some improvements such as appearance, speed of functions and content about maternal-foetal bonding, it could be used for free in rural areas as a solution proposal to language barriers that limit health care in vulnerable populations.