The Effect of mHealth Interventions on Women's Health Outcomes: A Systematic Review of Randomized Controlled Trials

Mobile health (mHealth) is an emerging technology with great potential for improving people's health. Due to its availability, this technology can create more motivation to improve women's health by providing safe, coordinated, and effective health care. Considering the importance of women's health, the present study was conducted to systematically investigate the impact of mHealth interventions on women's health outcomes.

The present study was conducted as a systematic review of clinical trial studies in English. PubMed, Scopus, Science Direct, the Cochrane Library, and ClinicalTrials.gov databases were reviewed according to the inclusion criteria from 2011 to 2021. 

A total of 28 articles were included in the study. mHealth tools, such as applications, text messages, voice or video calls, and wearable devices, were found to have multiple functions in this study, including providing information, reminders, education, and practical recommendations to improve the lifestyles of pregnant women in various areas. The study results indicated that in 82% of the studies, mHealth tools were effective in improving health outcomes for pregnant women, while in 18% of the studies, the intervention results did not differ from the standard method.

mHealth interventions can have a positive effect on improving the health of pregnant women, including their lifestyle, knowledge, and attitude regarding their own and their baby's health. However, in all these studies, high heterogeneity limits the certainty of the evidence for these findings. Therefore, future studies should identify the context in which mHealth can be more effective for women's health.