Previously submitted to: JMIR Formative Research (no longer under consideration since Dec 10, 2025)
Date Submitted: Jun 11, 2025
Warning: This is an author submission that is not peer-reviewed or edited. Preprints - unless they show as "accepted" - should not be relied on to guide clinical practice or health-related behavior and should not be reported in news media as established information.
Mindfulness on the Go: Patterns of Engagement With a Mobile Meditation App in Pregnant Patients
ABSTRACT
Nearly 20% of pregnant individuals experience anxiety or depression, contributing to adverse outcomes such as preterm birth and low birth weight. Mobile mindfulness apps offer accessible tools to manage mental health, but real-world engagement, especially among high-risk obstetric populations, remains unclear. We conducted a prospective study of pregnant patients given free access to the Expectful mindfulness meditation app to assess patterns of use and mental health outcomes. Among 49 patients, only 18% (n=9) used the app, with usage ranging from 7 seconds to 29 hours. App users had significantly higher baseline anxiety (HADS-Anxiety, P 0.011) and stress (PSS, P 0.025) scores. Postpartum EPDS scores remained significantly higher among users (P 0.023), with no significant change over time. Low uptake appeared tied to lack of perceived need, time constraints, and preference for in-person activities. Patients with reported social determinants of health (SDoH) showed higher mental health symptom burden and a trend toward greater app usage. These findings suggest mobile mindfulness apps may be underutilized even among patients likely to benefit, highlighting the need for targeted engagement strategies and further comparative research.
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