A longitudinal study of a mHealth app and regional policies on the uptake of postpartum depression referral after positive screening in Shenzhen.

Background: Postpartum depression (PPD) has received widespread attention. Shenzhen has been running a large-scale program for PPD since 2013. The program requires mothers to self-assess when applying information technology to PPD screening beginning in 2021. The purpose of this study was to conduct a longitudinal analysis of the impact of mHealth apps on the health-seeking behaviors of PPD patients.

Methods: Longitudinal data from districts in the Shenzhen Maternal and Child Health Management Information System (MCHMIS) for ten years was used in this study. Referral success rate (RSR, successful referrals to designated hospitals as a percentage of needed referrals) was used to assess health-seeking behavior. Trend χ2 tests were used to assess the overall trend of change after the implementation of mHealth in ten districts in Shenzhen. Interrupted Time Series Analysis (ITSA) was employed to assess the role of the mHealth app in changing patient health-seeking behaviors.

Results: For the results of the trend χ2 tests, the ten districts of Shenzhen showed an upward trend. For the ITSA results, different results were shown between districts. Nanshan district, Longhua district, and Longgang district all demonstrated an upward trend in the first-year application of the mHealth app. Nanshan district and Longgang district both exhibited an upward trend in terms of sustained effects.

Conclusions: There is a difference in the performance of the mHealth app across the ten districts. The results show that the three districts with better health resource allocation, Nanshan, Longgang, and Longhua districts, demonstrated more significant mHealth app improvements. The mHealth app's functions, management systems, and health resource allocation may be potential factors in the results. This suggests that when leveraging mHealth applications, the first step is to focus on macro-level area resource allocation measures. Secondly, there should be effective process design and strict regulatory measures. Finally, there should also be appropriate means of publicity.