The role of digital health in early detection and treatment of pre eclampsia in the prenatal period at primary healthcare facilities, South Africa: Pregnant women’s perspective

Abstract

An average of 76 000 maternal deaths and 500 000 neonatal deaths are reported globally yearly as a result of pre-eclampsia. To deal with this major concern, digital health initiatives are being increasingly used especially in maternal health, as it shows potential to improve the maternal health gap in reaching and achieving the Sustainable Development goals targets 3.1 and 3.2. Surprisingly, little is known about its use and role in early detection and treatment of pre-eclampsia among women in their prenatal period in a South African context. Therefore, this poses an inquiry of “What role digital health might possible play in early detection and treatment of pre-eclampsia?” Thus, this study intends to explore the digital health use in early detection and treatment of pre eclampsia by pregnant women at primary healthcare facilities. A qualitative exploratory and descriptive design were used for the understanding of participants’ knowledge and barriers to digital health utilization. The study adopted a purposive sampling method to select participants for interviews and data saturation was reached with the 10th participant. Data was collected using semi structured interviews and was analyzed using an open Tesch’s coding. Data quality was enhanced by applying four elements recommended by Lincoln and Guba. The study revealed that there’s knowledge inconsistencies on digital health use among women with pre-eclampsia. Despite the knowledge inconsistencies factors such as poor socio-economic status, lack of trust and validation of digital health initiatives, and poor network connectivity prevented the women in using digital health effectively. Nonetheless the study also revealed that families, friends and midwives play an imperative role as a source of support and knowledge on early detection and treatment of pre-eclampsia. Therefore, the study recommends that measures to ensure enhanced access to digital health information should be adopted. Moreover, more efforts should be made towards improving the accessibility of the digital health; this includes provision of infrastructure.