Novel interventions for pregnant women: Pharmacist consultations and mobile applications in pregnancy. With focus on the management of nausea and vomiting during pregnancy

Abstract

Up to 80% of pregnant women experience nausea and vomiting during pregnancy (NVP). NVP has been shown to impact pregnant women’s life negatively. Early recognition and sufficient management are recommended to prevent development of severe symptoms. Patient involvement has shown potential in health management. However, unclear and incomplete information are two known barriers to patient involvement. Therefore, this thesis aims to examine how a mobile application and a pharmacist consultation can provide health information and involve pregnant women in their NVP management. The results showed that decision support tools available for pregnant women were useful and had potential in maternal care, but studies on decision support tools used during pregnancy are still scarce. The use of the mobile application to track NVP severity with tailored information showed no effect on pregnant women’s NVP severity, quality of life, or decisional conflict. There was not detected any impact of a pharmacist consultation on medication use compared to standard care either. More work is needed to understand how pregnant women use mobile applications and how they utilize them in communication with health care providers. It is also necessary to investigate how pharmacists can contribute to the standard maternal care, especially among women with low sociodemographic status.