Barriers and Facilitators of Digital Health Use for Self-Management of Hypertensive Disorders by Black Pregnant Women

Abstract

Although digital health tools are increasingly common for managing health conditions, these applications are often developed without consideration of differences across user populations. A reproducible framework is needed to support tailoring applications to include cultural considerations, potentially leading to better adoption and more effective use. As a first step, this study captures a snapshot of Black women's barriers and facilitators in using digital health products for self-management of hypertensive disorders of pregnancy (HDP). One-on-one semi-structured interviews were conducted with 17 Black pregnant women with HDP. We established a unique model for cultural tailoring with these experiences using Black feminist theory and the CDC's Social-Ecological Model (SEM). 38 themes across the four levels of SEM were found through grounded theory. These themes can inform the feature development of a digital health intervention. Future work will instantiate and validate a framework that provides theoretical constructs for developing culturally tailored digital health interventions.