Supporting pregnant women with gestational hypertension when bringing about diet change

Abstract

Hypertensive disorders of pregnancy that include gestational hypertension are seen to complicate pregnancies worldwide. Even if hypertension resolves postpartum, these women are at an increased risk of developing cardiovascular issues in the future. So, they are recommended lifelong lifestyle changes that include making adjustments to their diet.
Although the hypertensive pregnancy offers an opportunity for positive change due to high motivation, various challenges get in the way of implementing change. Additionally, an individualistic and personalised approach is required to facilitate the adoption of healthy eating. However, the current setup to support women in the change-making process does not cater to this. A data-driven eHealth service has the potential to provide personalised support and therefore can prove to be useful for guiding women with gestational hypertension in making the required diet modifications.
This graduation thesis was set up with the aim to design the concept of a service that provides personalised support to women with gestational hypertension and helps them realise the prescribed diet changes. The design process was guided by the formative research on the challenges and enablers to diet change relating to pregnancy as reported in the literature followed by translating them into providing continuous care by applying behaviour change theories.
As a solution direction to providing personalised support, it is envisioned that women with gestational hypertension will be supported using a chatbot-driven service that assists them in effectively managing their diet by providing continuous training based on their lived experiences and with the help of relevant triggers. The chatbot was developed with the aim to (1) help the women cope with emotions, (2) provide knowledge and (3) effectively manage their diet.
The chatbot serves as a tool to gather data from the women, uncover it and deliver continuous support. In the process, it improves the current care pathway by providing (1) immediate response without increasing the load on the medical team, (2) ease of interaction through uninterrupted contact and increased reach and (3) personalisation of care utilizing tailored support. Thus, it has the potential to act as an effective means for guiding women when making diet changes while catering to specific needs within a diverse population. Further analysis through user testing is required to understand its acceptability and desirability in everyday use.