JMIR Publications

ABSTRACT

Background:

Pregnant and postpartum women face multiple health challenges, including physiological stress and mental health concerns, necessitating continuous health monitoring. Smart bracelets offer a promising solution, yet limited research exists on their preferences and willingness to pay (WTP) among this population.

Objective:

This study aimed to investigate the preferences and WTP for smart bracelet attributes among pregnant and postpartum women in China, and to explore how these preferences vary by sociodemographic factors, pregnancy stage, parity, and complications.

Methods:

A cross-sectional discrete choice experiment (DCE) was conducted among 464 pregnant and postpartum women recruited from a maternal and child health hospital in Inner Mongolia. Six key attributes were evaluated: cost, hospital backend monitoring, primary function, privacy protection, ease of use, and monitoring report frequency. A mixed logit model was used to estimate preference weights and WTP for each attribute, with subgroup analyses based on income, employment, gestational stage, parity and so on.

Results:

Among the 464 pregnant and postpartum women included in the final analysis (valid data rate: 96.67%), the mean age was 31.06 ± 4.05 years. Most participants were Han ethnicity (82.97%), had higher education (90.95%), lived in urban areas (96.12%), and were employed (76.08%). In the discrete choice experiment (DCE), cost negatively affected smart wristband preference (β = -0.000257, P = 0.010). Participants significantly preferred wristbands with fetal heart monitoring (β = 1.275, P < 0.001), high-level privacy protection (β = 0.541, P < 0.001), and ease of use (β = 0.973, P < 0.001). They were willing to pay ¥4967.45 for fetal heart monitoring, ¥2975.17 for sleep monitoring, ¥2109.29 for high-level privacy protection, and ¥3437.09 for daily monitoring. Subgroup analyses revealed that preferences varied by income, employment, pregnancy stage, parity, complications, and age.

Conclusions:

Smart bracelet design should be tailored to the diverse needs of pregnant and postpartum users. Key considerations include integrating fetal heart and vital sign monitoring, ensuring data privacy, enhancing usability, and offering cost-effective options. Understanding subgroup-specific preferences can guide the development of inclusive, responsive wearable health technologies for maternal care.