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. 2022 Oct 1;14(19):12801.
doi: 10.3390/su141912801. Epub 2022 Oct 7.

A Pilot Study on the Impact of the BumptUp® Mobile App on Physical Activity during and after Pregnancy

Rachel A Tinius  1 , Maire M Blankenship  2 , Alison M Colao  1 , Gregory S Hawk  3 , Madhawa Perera  1 , Nancy E Schoenberg  4
Affiliations

A Pilot Study on the Impact of the BumptUp® Mobile App on Physical Activity during and after Pregnancy

Rachel A Tinius et al. Sustainability. .

Abstract

To combat maternal morbidity and mortality, interventions designed to increase physical activity levels during and after pregnancy are needed. Mobile phone-based interventions show considerable promise, and BumptUp® has been carefully developed to address the lack of exercise among pregnant and postpartum women. The primary goal of this pilot study was to test the potential efficacy of BumptUp® for improving physical activity among pregnant and postpartum women. A randomized controlled clinical trial was performed (N = 35) with women either receiving access to the mhealth app or an educational brochure. Physical activity and self-efficacy for exercise data were collected at baseline (in mid-pregnancy) and at three additional timepoints (late pregnancy, 6 and 12 weeks postpartum). For moderate-to-vigorous physical activity, a clear trend is observed as the mean estimated difference between groups increases from -0.35 (SE: 1.75) in mid-pregnancy to -0.81 (SE: 1.75) in late pregnancy. For self-efficacy for exercise, the estimated difference of means (control-intervention) changed from 0.96 (SE: 6.53) at baseline to -7.64 (SE: 6.66) in late pregnancy and remained at -6.41 (SE: 6.79) and -6.70 (SE: 6.96) at 6 and 12 weeks postpartum, respectively. When assessing the change in self-efficacy from mid-to -ate pregnancy only, there was a statistically significant difference between groups (p = 0.044). BumptUp® (version 1.0 (3)) shows potential for efficacy. Pilot data suggest key refinements to be made and a larger clinical trial is warranted.

Keywords: exercise; mhealth; postpartum; pregnancy.

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Conflict of interest statement

Conflicts of Interest: The authors declare no conflict of interest.

Figures

Figure 1.
Figure 1.
Study flowchart and procedures.
Figure 2.
Figure 2.
Moderate-to-vigorous physical activity levels between control and intervention participants (mean ± SEM).
Figure 3.
Figure 3.
Change in total activity from mid-to-late pregnancy in control and intervention partic-pants (mean ± SEM).
Figure 4.
Figure 4.
Self-efficacy foe exercise scores in control and intervention participants (mean ± SEM). * p < 0.05.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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