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

Rachel A. Tinius (), Maire M. Blankenship, Alison M. Colao, Gregory S. Hawk, Madhawa Perera and Nancy E. Schoenberg
Additional contact information
Rachel A. Tinius: Exercise Science, Western Kentucky University, Bowling Green, KY 42101, USA
Maire M. Blankenship: Nursing and Allied Health, Western Kentucky University, Bowling Green, KY 42101, USA
Alison M. Colao: Exercise Science, Western Kentucky University, Bowling Green, KY 42101, USA
Gregory S. Hawk: Department of Statistics, University of Kentucky, Lexington, KY 40506, USA
Madhawa Perera: Exercise Science, Western Kentucky University, Bowling Green, KY 42101, USA
Nancy E. Schoenberg: Gender and Women’s Studies, College of Arts and Sciences, University of Kentucky, Lexington, KY 40506, USA

Sustainability, 2022, vol. 14, issue 19, 1-13

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: pregnancy; postpartum; exercise; mhealth (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: O13 Q Q0 Q2 Q3 Q5 Q56 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2022
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/14/19/12801/pdf (application/pdf)
https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/14/19/12801/ (text/html)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:14:y:2022:i:19:p:12801-:d:935782

Access Statistics for this article

Sustainability is currently edited by Ms. Alexandra Wu

More articles in Sustainability from MDPI
Bibliographic data for series maintained by MDPI Indexing Manager ().